114

The Steam Deck's budget price tag is the reason I still rate it nearly two years on (www.pcgamer.com)

submitted 1 year ago by ylai@lemmy.ml to c/steamdeck@lemmy.ml

52 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] brawleryukon@lemmy.world 18 points 1 year ago

Author can't seem to understand that Valve's the only company that can properly do the console-style "subsidize hardware cost based on the cut you'll get from selling the games" method in the PC space. Asus, Lenovo, Ayaneo - they don't have the luxury of maybe taking a bit of a haircut on the hardware and then more than making it up on the back end via software sales. They only get paid for the initial sale and then they're done, so their devices are going to have to be more expensive.

[-] Flaimbot@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

If they were to cooperate with valve and/or epic they could pull it off to some degree. Basically a fixed return from valve/epic per unit sold.

[-] brawleryukon@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

The big question with that plan, though, is what's in it for Valve/Epic? Valve has no incentive to let anyone else in on their cut, and Epic's is so low already there wouldn't be any room to let anyone else in on it with them.

I suppose Epic could try to get a deal in place where EGS is installed as the default store on the Ally or Legion, but it's not like anyone's going to just stick with the default - first thing anyone will do is just install Steam, and everyone knows it. I don't see a way for a deal like that to make sense for Epic to even bother with.

[-] somegadgetguy@lemdro.id 5 points 1 year ago

What's in it for valve? More games sold. They don't seem to mind steam keys being sold on aggressive sales through other platforms. Partnering with another hardware manufacturer for a revenue share doesn't seem like an extreme stretch. Unlikely? Sure. Impossible? No.