Steam Deck sales still going strong over three years later
Steam Deck sales still going strong over three years later

Steam Deck sales still going strong over three years later

Steam Deck sales still going strong over three years later
Steam Deck sales still going strong over three years later
No surprise there. It's backed by a reputable company, built well, supported well, and continues to receive updates that affect not only the handheld itself, but the rest of the linux gaming scene all together. Plus it's an absolute steal for the money.
Other brands had it all written out for them, but they all opted in for a quick buck, with generic bullshit with no understanding of what made the Deck so appealing
Agreed, the ease of repairs and ability to upgrade the SSD were a huge selling point for me.
I haven't bought it because previous hardware has been quick to get discontinued or support has stopped (steam machine, steam controller, steam link) and I didn't like that.
Told myself I'd buy a Steam Deck 2 because that would show long term support, though.
I can't really agree with that assesment of Valves past hardware.
Steam Machines were DOA, and anyone that actually bought one from one of the manufacturers likely got one that came with windows installed, because valve delayed the controller and software for so long the manufacturers pivoted to putting windows on them to be able to start selling the inventory. That meant very few that actually run SteamOS made it into the wild, most of them getting sold as just console-sized windows PCs.
And if you still have one, it's just a PC. You can slap Bazzite or Windows on it and it'll work just fine even today.
Both steam controller and link continue to get software support, and also function to this day. Valve stopped manufacturing and selling them, but support has not stopped.
No matter how you look at it, buying valve hardware has meant that even as it ages, they make sure it doesn't turn into a brick, or even have its usefulness compromised.
Same goes for the Deck, Valve couldn't brick the thing if they tried. When you buy one, you will still have what came in the box ten years from now.
Previous hardware mostly immediately flopped. Steam Deck has been seeing regular hardware and software improvements over the last several years.
If you're waiting for Steam Deck 2, you're most likely going to be waiting a while. Valve doesn't do anything quickly or on a regular basis.
Dude, my Steam Link and Steam Controllers are still in active use and get updates to this day. I even have 2 backup Steam Links - at the end they were selling them at 5€ per piece, and since i use it to stream pretty much everything to my TV, i got some in reserve.
I'm still on the first one, and one of the Controllers is now working with my Steam Deck out of the box.
I agree (a bit) on the Steam machines, those were pretty much a flop when seen as isolated device - but they laid the groundwork for the Deck.
Steam Link is still getting software updates. Steam Controller doesn't get updates anymore afaik, but it did get updates for a long time including firmware updates that added BLE support. Steam input on both the steam deck and in big picture mode still supports it and still allows community sharing of controller profiles.
In general I think Valve supports their less successful hardware pretty well by industry standards.
The Switch is none of those things and yet still manages to sell 100x more units.
Orange juice is nothing like apple juice, and yet both still sell
The switch has brand recognition, loyalty from decades ago, and ease of use (for the less tech savvy).
It has exclusives iirc, steam deck "just" has the rest.
The switch also has coop multiplayer and a few other things going for it as well.