I’m kind of curious as to user demographics and location of use.

I carry:

• A smartphone

• A tablet

• A laptop

Most places I go. I could probably give up the tablet without any significant tradeoff.

There’s enough overlap between the Steam Deck and a laptop that I don’t see as how a Deck would provide for much in my case.

That being said, I do get that if I only carried a smartphone, that a Deck would probably provide a substantially-better gaming experience than just the smartphone.

So I’m kind of curious as to who is, on the whole, buying Decks.

kagis

This is from 2022, so it’s not the latest data, and it’s not a random sample – it’s users who choose to participate on a subreddit. But there are some interesting-to-me takeaways here.

https://overkill.wtf/steam-deck-survey-2022-results/

• The vast bulk of users (90%) also own a PC. That is, the Deck is probably going to be a secondary platform to also play Steam games on.

• A high percentage (about two-thirds) also own a Nintendo Switch…which I would have thought has a lot of overlap. Maybe the Deck is sort of the “next-gen Switch” for them?

• Most of the respondents aren’t using the Deck as a mobile platform. They’re using it so that they can lie down on a couch or a bed and more-comfortably play the thing, which a PC isn’t really as-ideal-for.

  We asked where folks were using the Steam Deck, and most participants (a sizeable 82%) said they use the handheld primarily on the couch or in bed. An additional 9% shared that they use their Steam Deck mostly at their desk.

  Only 30 people (3%) said they use their Steam Deck the most whilst commuting — but this may be a side-effect of the increase in working-from-home following the pandemic. Could we see this commuting stat increase as more folks return to the office?

So, that says that Deck users, as an aggregate, aren’t really people who are looking for a cheaper, simpler, gaming-specific platform as an alternative to a PC. Nor is it really people who want mobility, to take a system with them. It’s people who want to be able to comfortably play a game while lying down instead of sitting at a desk.

Hmm.

That does make me wonder, because…frankly, I can think of couch/bed-friendly PC form factors that I’d think would work even better than a Deck-style form factor, if what people want is to use the thing around the house. Like, have a screen on a stand with a counterweighted arm and you can suspend the screen wherever you want, don’t need to hold it. You can avoid the battery and and power-consumption limitations of a mobile device by plugging it in, which permits for a considerably more-powerful system (if one even wants to do that, rather than doing Steam Link…they don’t talk about how many people are simply using the Deck as a thin client for their PC, which is entirely possible if most are using it at home). And if the screen and computing hardware isn’t being held in one’s hands, that takes weight off of the controller. It sounds like the Steam Deck does have rumble motors, but they’re not very powerful compared to traditional controllers – having more weight budget and reducing battery constraints would permit for strengthening those. I’d also guess – though I haven’t used gyro controls – that it’s preferable to not have the gyro controls attached to a screen, for things to work more like a Playstation.