Steam Deck prices reach $3,000 on eBay

[Dimitriid]

Wrong. It's the simping nerd fanboy customers that are wetting themselves in anticipation that are at fault. If no one were willing to pay their ridiculous mark-up, scalpers wouldn't be able to sell them at those prices; they wouldn't try to scalp them, because they would be the ones stuck with them. And once the supply goes up again, they would only be able to sell them as used/for less because they're 3rd party, meaning they only make a loss.

I've seen this argument a lot when it comes to GPUs and also but specially PS5: it's always the fault of the consumer.

This always ignores the fact that a consumer is not able to create scarcity. In fact without press, advertising, secondary stories on the press, secondary advertising by partners, etc. They wouldn't even know there is such a thing as Steam Deck. The truth is companies spend a lot of money on advertising and you know what? Because it actually works. Individual people might not be persuaded 100% of the time but on average, the psychological manipulation employed by companies goes a lot deeper than an add.

It's the add, then most of the people will try something else but social media will steer them back into video games and people talking about the PS5. Many people even socialize in a big way by gaming together so at least a few on their extended circle will now be on PS5 and talk on it. Then you watch the news, you watch TV, read a paper and it's there PS5 everywhere you go, this brand invades your very personal space, your personal relationships, most of your other hobbies hell if you have any co-workers in your age group you will even hear about it there.

So thinking "It's just an add, it's too expensive you can ignore it" basically ignores how incredibly invasive modern marketing campaigns become and why they are so effective. Neither consumers nor scalpers are in control of any of this. This is all orchestrated by Sony to make sure their new product becomes an inescapable part of the culture around you for many people while at the same time, intentionally or not, knowing full well they can't meet the demand they created.

Valve has been very successful at recreating a lot of that marketing on a smaller scale: Basically if you are enthusiastic about PC gaming or tech then chances are you follow blogs or youtubers talking about the Steam Deck and the marketing rabbit holes will get you.

 

[Sausagemeat]

You make a lot of hard statements for someone who hasn't touched one.

I've found the entire experience to be nearly flawless. Yes going into the linux desktop is finicky, but its not something you need to do at all and its way less finicky then going into desktop mode on a switch.

Witcher 3 has a longer battery life on the deck then it does on the switch.

In the two weeks ive had it ive seen plenty of improvements come down the pipe. The support is absolutely there.

But the truth is, I could hand it to any kid whos used a switch and he could buy a game, DL it, and be playing with zero issues in minutes. Did I mention it has actual built in voice chat support and bluetooth support? And I can install discord on it and that works flawlessly. Its just a better experience. My switch will only be for first party games from now on. 3rd party games that look like they would be good portable are going on the deck.

You are incorrect about the Witcher 3 battery life vs switch. The switch battery is more than twice as good as the steam deck and that’s being generous. This is as reported by reviewers. I could buy a steam deck and find all the reports wrong but I doubt it.

I’m going on what all the reviewers have said. What you have said contradicts their reports. Not a single one of them say it’s a smooth experience at all. You are literally the only person claiming this.

So stop bullshitting. I know you like the product but it’s certainly not perfect.

 

[brucek]

I'm curious what's behind the demand at say $1,800. In small volumes I might suspect some professional use case like a game developer, hardware competitor, etc. If it is just for ordinary consumer use, there must be a specific use case beyond just gaming or PC gaming generally, as there are other alternatives at that price including gaming laptops with better displays, performance, and battery life. But I can't really think what that would be?