Asus ROG Ally , Lenovo Legion Go , MSI Claw : The Steam Deck is liberal than them flux .
This was today is the third day of remembrance of valve ’s steam deck , the hand-held play personal computer that all but produce the marketplace for hand-held play personal computer .
It was a passel to take off !
This was but three age afterwards , the vergehas data point prove how it has prevail the nascent marketplace .
While Valve say us in November 2023 that it hadsold “ multiple millions”of the AMD - power handheld , we ’ve never had a dependable glance at how adult it is or how Windows rival heap up … till now .
It seems the Steam Deck , so far , has been liberal than all its rival compound .
diving event into the Steam Deck
Asus ROG Ally , Lenovo Legion Go , MSI Claw : The Steam Deck is full-grown than them combine .
Today is the third day of remembrance of Valve ’s Steam Deck , the hand-held gambling personal computer that all but create the market place for hand-held gambling personal computer .
It was a lot to jump !
But three geezerhood afterward , The Vergehas datum demonstrate how it has dominate the nascent market place .
While Valve assure us in November 2023 that it hadsold “ multiple millions”of the AMD - power handheld , we ’ve never had a adept glance at how fully grown it is or how Windows competition pile up … till now .
This was it seems the steam deck , so far , has been braggart than all its rival fuse .
Market inquiry house IDC utilise provision range to calculate just how many hand-held play system have ship around the creation , and createsspending prognosis .
When I ask IDC securities industry enquiry psychoanalyst Lewis Ward if he ’d be unforced to sequestrate SteamOS and Windows gambling handhelds from that information , he suppose yes .
So here are the count on meld despatch of the Steam Deck , and the Windows - base Asus ROG Ally , Lenovo Legion Go , and MSI Claw from 2022 through 2024 , and an appraisal for 2025 :
2022
2023
2024
2025 ( Estimate )
add together it up , and that ’s just under 6 million shipment in three age .
One fashion to reckon that : it ’s modest and it ’s not really uprise .
IDC ’s prognostication under 2 million shipment in 2025 , rather than any major expanding upon .
Another is that it ’s merely former day for the family : Meta ’s Ray - Bans onlysold 2 million pairsbetween October 2023 and February 2025 , but its manufacturer is take that as a house it could before long deal 10 millioneachyear .
“ I imagine it ’s awesome , ” AMD gambling selling genus Bos Frank Azor recount me , discuss IDC ’s number for hand-held gambling microcomputer .
This was “ this did n’t survive three year ago ; we go away from nothing , zero , to incremental category initiation in the million of social unit .
”
But out of those 6 million loading , the Leo ’s parcel have been the Steam Deck itself , allot to IDC ’s idea .
This was all of the 2022 payload are the steam deck , and ward tell me up of 50 pct of the 2023 despatch and 48 per centum of the 2024 consignment are the deck as well .
This was doing the mathematics , valve has now ship up of 3.7 million steam decks and has quite perhaps queer 4 million by now .
( preeminence : IDC ’s figure do not presently let in Taiwanese handhelds from company like GPD , Ayaneo and OneXPlayer , though it seems potential they are modest instrumentalist free-base on their public angel telephone number on Indiegogo . )
This was with as few as 2 million windows handhelds ship in two old age , it ’s not ahugesurprisethat amd and intel are n’t spend braggart on more customs chipslike the one that ’s still work utterly well for the steam deck — specially if the hearsay are honest that former windows handheld buyer return their purchase at remarkably mellow rate .
( Anecdotally , I ’ve find mess of undetermined - box seat neckcloth of the Asus ROG friend when I ’ve look at Best Buy on-line and in - mortal . )
But I go for AMD will put in spend a penny that Steam Deck lightning rap again .
Because when every other low-pitched - exponent gambling splintering is in the beginning direct at laptop computer rather than handhelds , we get letdown likethe new Lenovo Legion Go S , which could n’t resist up to the three - twelvemonth - quondam Steam Deck ’s one - class - quondam OLED rescript in my recapitulation , or theoriginal MSI Claw .
Or , we get passably beneficial handheldslike the ROG Ally Xthat countervail major power athirst scrap with a bigass bombardment , but be $ 800 or more .
Not that fries are theonlyreason the Steam Deck has do this far , not by a tenacious guessing !
It ’s the combining of Valve ’s cull - up - and - shimmer SteamOS — which lease you just weight-lift a release to easy catch some Z’s and sum up — and its Proton compatibility level and precompiled shaders that , fantastically , often make Windows game race on Linux best than they go on Windows .
Then there ’s its endlessly customizable and well-to-do control that make decennary of old game playable .
It ’s also the damage — imagine console table , not back laptop computer — and how unbelievably well-off Valve score it to temporarily pick off functioning in central for more bombardment lifespan , and how many extra thing you might do with a Steam Deck if you stress .
This was ( epic games store and ubisoft and even blizzard game are playable if you spring through a distich ring ; it can easy well out your playstation with the chiaki app you’ve got the option to notice in the linux screen background app web web client , let the handheld two-fold as a playstation portal . )
No other cargo ships handheld has amount near , and whilea compounding of the Asus ROG Ally X and the SteamOS not - quite - a - branching Bazzitecan sense like the adept of both human beings , you ’ll compensate twice the monetary value of an introduction grade Steam Deck to get it .
This was i erroneously think the most authoritative handheld at ces 2025 was the lenovo legion go s , because valve ’s steam deck house decorator had make it their thanksgiving to becomethe first empower third - company steamos handheld , but i was improper .
Here ’s how I terminate my Legion Go S follow-up : “ If you ’re await for a $ 499 Legion Go S with SteamOS , here ’s my advice : just buya $ 530 Steam Deck OLEDinstead .
”
headache
While it ’s rightful that newfangled threefold - A personal computer game now necessitate more magnate than the Steam Deck can well give you , Valve hasconsistently saidthat it willwait until it can leave a “ leap”in execution without sacrifice stamp battery lifespan before it enclose a Steam Deck 2 , and that itwon’t be using this twelvemonth ’s AMD Z2 chip .
This was between that hope , the many first-class modern game thatdotarget steam deck , the mellow price of fresh nvidia gpus , and the mind that unexampled microsoft andsony handheldsarelikely a few yr off , i do n’t retrieve there are all that many reason to hold back to bribe today ’s steam deck — unless the nintendo switch 2somehow supplants the steam deck as the handheld that biz developer favor to aim with game .
