Linux 2.29% +0.29%
I’m always surprised by how small the Steam Deck playerbase is. It has such strong word of mouth, but the niche it supports seems pretty small.
Honestly it doesn’t surprise me that much. Steam is such a MASSIVE platform that’s been around for 22 years, while the steam deck came OUT in '22.
The screen is small.
It’s an old person thing, probably, but I don’t enjoy phone sized screens beyond reading and such. I don’t know how people see an Apple Watch well enough to use it comfortably.
Laptop is fine most days but I really want that desktop screen when I can get it.
I can’t imagine Stellaris or AC or even Pathfinder on a phone or iPad mini sized screen. Like TV, most people aim bigger not smaller. I can still have portable games at 15” instead of 7”.
Oled is noticeable larger, on paper it’s only 0.4"diagonally but it’s obvious having my lcd deck beside my partner’s oled one, plus the oled one just looks a lot nicer. I’ve had more issues personally with some games not letting me scale down the ui, rimworld is totally playable on the deck but I find the interface gets in the way.
Steam deck xl could be an idea but you’d probably have some weight/ergonomics issues. Deck itself already dwarfs my switch lite (and is more comfortable to use…), do find I prefer some games on a larger screen, but it does usually work well at the distances I hold it.
Play demanding games on desktop, and easy to pick up and put down games on the Deck.
Personally, I use mine just like that, except the Deck is mainly an emulation portable since I have the desktop for the more beefy games I play.
Don’t knock it 'til you try it as they say!
I don’t know how people see an Apple Watch well enough to use it comfortably.
My sister struggles, I don’t (not the Apple Watch, the small screen) . I have a decent set of glasses, she cant be fcuked… I’m 58.
Steam Deck is on my list for '25
I’m the same age and the screen size is mostly ok. Some games are unplayable because of tiny text, but that’s really a minority. My main problem with it has been learning to use a controller, as I’d never gamed on a console and never really used one on my various PCs.
Apart from that, the system is really solid, and the whole thing works great. It’s really a great little machine. It’s saving my life at the moment when I can’t use my main machine (home being basically rebuilt) and I have nothing else to game on (laptop isn’t at all suited to it).
I’m finally going to finish Fallout 4… It seems like it was designed for it.
Yep, right? We’re talking about a pretty small number. Best guesses put it under 10 million lifetime, which is not only dwarfed by Steam’s wider userbase, but by all home consoles. It’s 10-20x less than the Nintendo Switch.
There are a ton more PC handhelds out there, and the backwards compatibility inherent on PC platforms probably means the share will grow over time… but it’s not as big as techie nerds assume.
The Switch is a bad metric to measure against since it’s on track to be the highest selling console of all time. Even if they have similar form factors.
Well, no, it seems to me that’s why it’s a good metric to measure against.
I mean, the Switch invented the big form factor hybrid handheld as we know it. The Steam Deck is a very obvious direct response to its success. Comparing how well the Valve version of it is doing is… actually a really good apples to apples thing.
