Valve - Steam Deck Launches Today

The Steam Deck is about to launch. Valve announced what to expect.

Launch Day Details

Hi all, Steam Deck launches in just two days! Thought we would send along some details for what you can expect on Friday, February 25th:

Starting at 10am Pacific, we'll be sending emails out to the first batch of reservation holders via the address tied to their Steam account. Those folks will then have 72 hours to complete their purchase on Steam for the specific model they reserved. If they cancel or do not purchase in this time frame, we'll release their reservation to the next person in the queue.

Around the same time is when you'll start seeing coverage from the roughly 100 media outlets we sent early review units to, so there will be a ton of interesting content and coverage for everyone to check out.

We are also looking forward to getting the official Dock for Steam Deck into customers' hands. It won't be happening as early as we wanted, but we're excited to talk more about it soon and are planning to make them available in late spring.

In the meantime we can't wait to get folks playing on Steam Deck, and can't wait to hear what you think! Feel free to tag the official Steam Deck account on twitter (@OnDeck) to share your experience.

More information.

Not sure to understand what's "Steam Deck", exactly.

Originally Posted by vanedor
Not sure to understand what's "Steam Deck", exactly.

A portable pc gmaing rig inspired by the Nintendo Switch. The target audience would be those who want to play pc games anywhere they want to instead of at home.

The specs were mentioned on it's website.

Link - https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech

There are several reasons why it’s difficult to name a specific Steam Deck GPU equivalent. Its APU doesn’t work the same way as a desktop video card. Suffice to say it’s loosely equivalent to an Nvidia GTX 1050. More toward the point is this: If your PC has a graphics card from 2018 or later, you likely already have access to more graphical power than the Steam Deck can provide

Question is can it handle demanding games?

Originally Posted by vanedor
Not sure to understand what's "Steam Deck", exactly.

It's a Steam Gameboy .

Valve posted an update:

Steam Deck Launch Day

The day is finally here - today Steam Deck order emails are going out to the first batch of reservers, in the order reservations were made. They will have 72 hours to complete their purchase or cancel their reservation, and the next batch of order emails will be sent next week, and so on. As production continues to ramp up, we'll be updating reservation estimates (we see you, After-Q2 gang!).

Today we've updated steamdeck.com with additional info and more prototype images than you can shake a stick at. On the desktop Steam Store, we've added a new Great on Deck page, a way to check your own library for Deck compatibility, as well as additional Steam-Deck-related display and search features.

And to celebrate the launch of Steam Deck, the team has put together a launch video. We hope you have as much fun watching it as we did making it!

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In addition, today we are announcing Aperture Desk Job, a free playable short for Valve's new Steam Deck. Set in the Portal universe, Desk Job walks you through the handheld's controls and features, while not being nearly as boring as that sounds. Desk Job launches on March 1st and is best experienced on Steam Deck. Find out more about it here.

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Finally, you'll start seeing impressions and reviews of Steam Deck from a variety of press and media outlets today - around 100 outlets have had Steam Decks in hand, and there will be plenty of coverage to browse through.

Have fun, and happy launch day!

EDIT: And apparently, they're already talking about the next version (Gaming Bolt), with mobile capabilities.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Question is can it handle demanding games?

Well, it was reported today that Valve has verified that Elden Ring runs on it… though no one has seen how well. That said, it has been shown running plenty of other triple A games (Control, Doom Eternal etc). Battery life might be the worst thing about it based on previews - but otherwise, it seems pretty cool and capable.

I got in a very early pre-order and am hoping to get my hands on one soon!

EDIT: Woot! Just got my order in and waiting on a shipping date.

As someone who games a lot (like 4 hours+ day for the last 25 years) I draw the line at portable gaming. For me it would mean that gaming has transitioned from a hobby to life consuming. I would think one would be tempting to take it on the family holiday and other important activities etc which imo is not a good thing.

Yeah, I've tried portable units before, and learned that I only ever used them while traveling, for the most part. I gave away my Switch some years ago, yet held onto the PSP in case I ever actually travel again. I can understand the attraction, yet for me the computer is king.

Thought I had reserved mine early last year but mine ships "after Q2"
No biggie but the Steam Deck is not "Here" for most people.

I'm not a portable gamer either, never got any of those nintendo portable gaming toys, or any alternative others in that category.. But if I was someone who traveled a lot for work, and had to take a long train ride frequently, for example, this is something I would definitely be interested in. It looks pretty good for a portable gaming toy.

I can understand how many people will use this for gaming when travelling or commuting but that's not how I plan to use it. I think of it as a cheaper, smaller, more comfortable to hold version of a gaming laptop.

I have a great desktop PC setup in my den… but my family doesn't hang out in my den. So I love the idea of being able to play a game somewhere else in the house where my wife or daughter are reading, or watching TV, or whatever. Or even out in our yard lying in the hammock. I currently do all of that with my Switch - but it doesn't have most of the PC games I want to play.

I actually think this kind of device may be the thing that eventually makes my gaming PC obsolete.

Too small for my taste, but I still think it's neat. Look forward to hearing about what it's capable of.

Originally Posted by SSIGuy
Well, it was reported today that Valve has verified that Elden Ring runs on it… though no one has seen how well. That said, it has been shown running plenty of other triple A games (Control, Doom Eternal etc). Battery life might be the worst thing about it based on previews - but otherwise, it seems pretty cool and capable..

Here you go medium settings seems to work the best.

8 Minutes Of Elden Ring Running On Steam Deck - Gamespot

Elden Ring and Steam Deck share a launch date, so of course we had to know how the game looks and runs on the system. We set the game to medium graphic settings and get a solid performance outside of the occasional frame hitching, although that issue seems to be PC wide and not Steam deck Specific.

Not bad for a mobile PC but not good for those that prefer max settings.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Not bad for a mobile PC but not good for those that prefer max settings.

True but that doesn't tell the whole story imo. I think of some demanding PC titles I've played on my Switch that have been downsampled a lot to run there - and they still look quite good, due to the smaller screen size.

I'm not suggesting that's nearly as good as playing the game at ultra on a 1440p monitor but running ultra vs medium on a smaller screen doesn't always tell the whole story.

Anyway, I think it is looking like a stellar device for those who have a use case for it.

Portable gaming is great when you have a trip with long plane rides and periods of extended down time.

I'll probably prefer my Switch though just because it has games that I can't play anywhere else that I can save for a trip like that. The Steam games I've probably already played on my computer if I'm into them.