Moore – who held senior positions at EA, Microsoft, and Sega before leaving gaming altogether to join Liverpool FC in 2017 – reflected on the losses incurred whenever there’s a new console generation, suggesting that both “companies and gamers” are asking questions about whether or not players “really need to be spending what could be five, $600 on a bespoke piece of hardware just to play games”.
The difference of course being the reason.
Companies ask why they are making a $500 gaming box because they want more profit.
Gamers ask why they’re buying the newest $500 gaming box because new games continually plunge in quality.
To me its more about the increasing ubiquity of “decks”. Why would I buy a console when I can buy a deck and a dock? A dock that can also handle damn near any job a low to mid end laptop can as well with a wireless kb and mouse.
A steam deck can effectively replace a laptop/desktop for most things both of them do outside of dedicated school/work, and replace your console…
I wouldn’t buy a deck or a dock because I prefer my consoles to say in one singular location.
I had a Switch and it literally never left the dock, ever. Hardware could have been way stronger if it wasn’t relying on the portability gimmick.
A Steam Deck is really only meant for gaming, I would know because I have one. It has a controller built onto it. Its not like a GPD WIN or similar device with a built in keyboard where you can kinda make the argument you can use it for other stuff. I lent it to my father who mostly uses it because he can at least play a game he wants when my mother is using the TV. But outside of that its like all my other portable systems, collecting dust in the carry case.