this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2024
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Valve confirms the Steam Deck won't have annual releases — Steam Deck 2 on hold until a generational leap in compute performance takes place (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/hardware
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The Steam Deck 2 might be significantly faster than its predecessor.

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[–] sudoku 7 points 11 hours ago

The full quote is

We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that’s kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that’s only incrementally better. So we really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck. But it is something that we’re excited about and we’re working on.

The key to understanding this quote is realizing that they aren't talking about "years" from the OLED release, but the original hardware release, as the performance is identical. The original hardware is 3 years old already (the deck was delayed by software issues, but the hardware was already piling up in warehouses 3 years ago). Thus this statement is simply stating what we already know (and saw with our own eyes) - it is not a guarantee that we won't see a Deck 2 announcement tomorrow.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 12 hours ago

Oh hey like a normal company.

Sad that "par" is so much better than average.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I wonder how many times we'll get this "news" headline again.

They've been saying that from the beginning, there's no news here.

And besides, everyone that's familiar with Valve hardware knows they release upgrades... basically never.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 13 hours ago

Deckard when?

[–] [email protected] 20 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I just wish phones were like this.

[–] curry 7 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

You mean you don't want to waste a thousand dollars and more in pointless upgrades and accessories every year? Impossible!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Luckily you actually don’t have to do that.

Android devices are finally claiming to give as many years of OS updates as iPhones have so times are a-changing

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

Finally. As much as iPhones as got meme’d as “so expensive,” my budget spend was buying a few year-old iPhone renewed and riding it until it died or stopped getting security updates. Like, my 11 has at least a few more years still to go?

Android devices, in theory, could have the potential for even more savings due to their second hand market value falling off a cliff a few months after launch, but I don't if the decline is due to hype dying or people considering support windows.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 1 day ago

The Steam Deck is still pretty capable for 2024, likely even through 2025. I think this is the right move. There are very few games that struggle with performance currently on it.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Who in the world thought they would? They already said SD 2 wouldn't happen until it would be a significant upgrade. The OLED version was certainly an upgrade, but to expect them to do small iterations every year is absurd. It's not a cell phone, y'all. Just get one and enjoy it like a console instead of expecting bs "upgrades" every year like Samsung or Apple.

[–] sukhmel 3 points 15 hours ago

It's not a cell phone, y'all.

That also doesn't really need annual updates. I'm guessing the only reason phone manufacturers do that is out of fear that otherwise users will go and buy something else from those who do annual updates.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They don't exactly have the financial incentives to release a device every year, so...

[–] [email protected] 10 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

Not sure why you're downvoted, but I think you're close to at least partial reason. Having one device last a few years makes it easier to replace under warranty, if what you're truly trying to do is provide superior customer service over competition (they probably have lost of spare parts, as it makes sense to order bulk and of extras, unless you're super greedy company who has no faith in its product).
And as I assume you're suggesting, they're going to make their money on the games that people buy to play on that device, so why waste effort on making miniscule improvements that may end up hurting your brand and labelling you a money grabber.
Don't get me wrong, Valve know how to make lots of money, but I bet they're smart enough to try and do it in a "sustainable" way from their perspective.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 21 hours ago

Excessive releases drive me away from a developer/manufacturer. It just underscores their priorities toward innovation and quality.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago

For Valve if they just wanted to make money all they would have to do is to not make steam actively worse and just provide some tiny bugfixes and maybe try to fix some larger issues when they pop up. Everything else at this point is just a pet project for them

[–] [email protected] 1 points 18 hours ago

Yeah, this is also the whole point of a console from hardware and developer viewpoint - stability and standardisation. Everyone has the same device so you know of it works on the Steam Deck, it works on all of them. You also have a standard product to manufacture and the costs go down with scale.

Storage space and screen upgrades aren't so important as GPU, and CPU plus RAM. Once those change you have fragmentation int be market and basically 2 consoles.

It makes 100% for valve to not release a new device until there is a generational leap. Otherwise all they do is fragment and damage the existing steam deck ecosystem.

The exception here for gamers, is that it's an open platform in the sense it's Proton running on Linux. So you could do the same on more powerful competitor hardware if you wanted, but you'd not have support or a guarantee it'd work.

I have a mini PC plugged into my TV running linux - it's essentially just a souped up permanently docked deck. There are also plenty of hand held devices that can be flashed with Linux and bound to be more in the future.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 20 hours ago

Who genuinely thought they would release annually. Valve won't even release games until they find a good reason to, never mind making a new console

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago

I've been wanting to get one but still haven't but I've played on my friend's. I honestly think it'll hold up for a few more years. Obviously not with the AAA cutting edge stuff. But even 5 years from now I'm sure the biggest game will be something it can still run. Most of the highest rated games are indie titles nowadays.

I'd really want the deck 2 to blew the original out of the water. Give it that feel of upgrading from a PS1 to the PS2. Because we really don't have that now. Jumping from the PS4 to the PS5 didn't feel much different other than faster load times. It was disappointing to say the least.