Seems like a lot of these handhelds are rushed and lacking R&D. Makes the steam deck seem like an even better option
this post was submitted on 15 Apr 2024
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R&D is very expensive. I have no idea what the margins on these devices are, but I imagine it's a tough market.
Margins must be pretty good for everyone and their mother to pump one out.
Yup. It was more expensive for Valve because they have a custom chip. These other devices are using off-the-shelf chips, so it's a lot cheaper.
Look at the minipc market (e.g. minisforum), and then add a screen, battery, and build in a controller. It's really not a complicated product for a company that already makes similar devices, especially since they can probably reuse parts in other products.
Valve can go into the negative selling Decks, something that their competitors can't reasonably do because they will get money from Steam store sales made on the Deck. I for one went from buying 3-4 games a year to like a dozen because it's been so convenient.
Seems a lot like competing launchers, a lot of companies want a slice of the pie that Valve discovered but aren't willing to do the same amount of work. I've heard good things about the Ally, at least.
More like Valve created. There were PC handhelds before, but they were too expensive, had a crappy UX, and not high performance enough. Valve produced a device that addressed each of those and created a market for itself.
If you make a compelling product at a good price, the demand will come.
Oh but that requires money and effort, and creates a fair exchange for the purchaser, no can do. Hardware companies are more focused on how to force people to subscribe to their own devices.
Oh look, it's exactly what everyone thought would happen. Well, good thing they've already said they're making what, 3 or 4 iterations?
The takeaway is not to buy it.