Budget? It’s $600 for a device that’s already worse off then a console power wise. You can’t use discs and do pay more games. In what world is this a budget device?
If you want to game on a budget gamepass+ gamefly + Xbox is the cheapest way to game hands down.
A. It’s not $600.
B. Games on PC are far less than used discs are.
C. Gamepass is not and does not in any way resemble a budget option. The budget option is owning games so you don’t routinely have new expenses to be able to play games all. Renting is and always has been an obscenely expensive way to play games.
A. Yeah $400 for 64gb, real value. But whatever I’m sure that one is real popular.
B. No, not if you sell them back or rent them.
C. I payed $70 for 3 years of game pass. I have since played well over 40 games.
The math on renting is easy so I’ll spell it out to you.
Gamepass + game fly == 30+ 205 = $235 for the year. Let’s say you are a light gamer and only play through 5 games a year. That’s 70*5 == $350, you have already broke even unless you include hardware, then you lost a whole ago.
I personally play more like 30 so I’m saving well over 2k USD a year.
PC gamers spite their wallets so they can play a stream game once and be proud they own it
A. Yes, that version is extremely popular.
B. It’s not remotely close. Selling back physical games is still terrible value compared to discounts on Pc
C. Gamepass gave itself away for a while as a promotional gimmick. That’s not what it costs. The literal only possible explanation for habitually renting games is that you’re terrible with money. It’s by far the worst budget option by a huge margin. It’s not a legitimate choice for someone with limited funds. The day you stop paying, your library disappears.
That math is so wrong on so many reasons. Let’s compare it
| Device | Steam Deck | Xbox |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest official price | 339 | 549.99 |
| Subscription fee | 0 | 14.99/month |
| Initial games | all of your steam library (800+ games for me) | 0 |
| Emulator support | Yes | No |
| Base cost after a year | 339 | 729.87 |
This means that I have 390.87 to spend in games before we break even. Let’s see how many games I can buy with that, to do that in a way that’s as impartial as possible I’ll look at the top most played games to try to not put my bias for games I prefer and add their lowest recorded price (since steam sales are common place) on steam until I reach the 390 I have to spend. This gets me to number 33 on the top 100 most played games. It’s worth noting that if I add emulators, free games, and the fact that I personally prefer to buy a lot of indie games than spend 120 into two football manager games, I can easily make those 390 get me a LOT more games. But here’s the biggest kicker, if one month I’m short on cash I can play any of the hundreds games I have, you unfortunately if you don’t pay gamepass are out of games. Also in a few years when you need to buy a new console you’ll lose all your games except the ones Microsoft allows you to keep playing, so in the long run you get to where I’am, i.e. having a large curated list of games that you like and can play without having to pay.
To add insult to injury, I get to play my games on the go, and the suspend/resume midgame feature means I’m back in my game within seconds, not having to wait until my Xbox finished playing the Call of Duty ad
Sources:
- Steam deck price: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamdeckrefurbished/
- Xbox Price: https://www.xbox.com/en-IE/consoles/compare
- Gamepass price: https://www.xbox.com/en-IE/xbox-game-pass
- Top most played games on steam: https://steamdb.info/charts/?tagid=0
Here in Germany I can get it certified refurbished for 340€ (64gb), 440€ (256gb) or 540€ (540€). You can go for the cheapest and upgrade the storage. Seems affordable to me.
First of all why are we comparing a handheld to a console? That just doesn’t make any sense.
And since when are games for consoles cheaper anyways? Seems like PC games go on sales much faster.
For any PC gamer with an existing library (or any pirate) you already have plenty of games to play on the steam deck. No need to buy anything new.
Also don’t some games on the playstation for example need a subscription for online play?
That said you are right that if you want access to a large variety of games then game pass+Xbox is a solid option. But look at streaming services and mark my words: this won’t last forever. They WILL enshittfy it eventually.
Why am I comparing a console to a handheld? I’m not. The deck was presented as a budget option. I agree mobile devices typically aren’t budget friendly and I’m providing an alternative.
As for cheaper games it’s because the console still has a rental and resale community. Unless you are actually buying 3 games a year and putting hundreds of hours into them; it’s far cheaper to rent or buy and sell on Amazon. I played well over 30 games last year and spent about $250. Had I purchased them it would be well past $2000 a year. Even if I wait 3 years for every single title to hit $5 (which never happens in practice for many games) I’ve still spent $200 on those discounted titties.
I’m very sure most people don’t buy a new game every month. I don’t even know how you would find the time to finish them that fast.
Edit: I just noticed 30 games a year means more than 2 new games a month. Are you speedrunning them or something?!
Fairly trivial and well known concepts. I’m not even sure what you could possibly be confused about 🤷♂️
How tf is a disc supposed to fit in a handheld? It would have so many downsides and people haven’t been buying discs for pc games for years now
I haven’t had a device with the ability to read discs in over 10 years. The last portable gaming device that could read optical discs was the PSP, as far as I can recall. Which came out in 2011.
Again, what are you on about with the steam deck not being able to read discs as a criticism? It’s outlandish. To the point where I’m not even sure you know what a steam deck is.
Damn get a load of this guy listing physical discs as if it’s a good thing in 2023. The experience of owning a game on Steam is so seamless and convenient I couldn’t even handle the frustration of SD cards on the switch let alone a full on disc!
Of course the situation would be different if you live somewhere with a poor internet connection and you play mostly AAA games, then I understand the appeal of having physical media.
EDIT: Also have to add, $600 for a device that can play literally every game I’ve purchased for the last 20 years anywhere I go is a damn bargain. Consoles have their place and their own advantages but there’s really no other device that can do that.
Not sure why people here are all arguing about why you would want to use discs, rather than the fact that the Steam Deck is a PC, of course you can absolutely used discs. All you need to do is plug in a USB disc drive, and it’s ready to go. I’ve installed a bunch of my older PC games from CD/DVD that way, and it works great. Even under Linux, applications like Lutris make installing Windows game discs pretty easy, and once they’re installed, you’re ready to go.
The value lies in its flexibility. And it’s mainly targeted for existing PC players. I can play my whole 150+ games steam library on it. I can easily emulate my favourite childhood games. Also, the smallest version with like a 256 or 512 GB SD card is perfectly fine and a lot cheaper than 600$.
There are use cases where a traditional console is cheaper of course, but you can’t get AAA handheld gaming for less money.
