The Steam Deck is rising from power to power. Valve’s not too long ago launched Steam 12 months in Evaluation for 2024 revealed that, from a {hardware} perspective, the Steam Deck is proving to be a significant success for the corporate, with an enormous 64% improve in playtime hours on the hand-held gaming PC in comparison with the yr earlier than.
It’s no shock to see the Steam Deck change into such a useful asset for avid gamers – it’s kickstarted a completely new ecosystem for PC avid gamers. You’ll be able to’t take into account the very best gaming handheld PCs with out fascinated by this specific Valve handheld, and with SteamOS now launching on different third-party handhelds, the corporate’s grasp on your entire market is rising ever stronger.
In its 2024 12 months in Evaluation publish, Valve explains simply how huge of successful the Steam Deck has been for the corporate up to now. Based on Valve, avid gamers spent 330 million hours taking part in video games on a Steam Deck in 2024, 64% greater than 2023, because of quite a lot of large releases that suited the console, with Balatro and Black Delusion Wukong talked about.
Valve additionally factors out the function of Linux within the success of the Steam Deck, with the regularly-improved Proton compatibility layer making it simpler to play Home windows-only video games on the platform. Whereas Home windows 11-powered handhelds just like the Asus ROG Ally X have higher {hardware}, the simplicity of SteamOS arguably makes it the higher working system for handheld gaming, not less than for the second.
That’s unhealthy information for Microsoft. Valve’s success with the Steam Deck and SteamOS signifies that the prospect of Linux toppling Home windows 11 as the very best platform for gaming doesn’t appear as farfetched nowadays, even when there’s nonetheless a protracted method to go. If Valve can proceed to dominate the hand-held gaming market, both by the Steam Deck or SteamOS on different handhelds, Microsoft will want an enormous success with its rumored Xbox handheld to have the ability to reply.
With a bit of luck, this competitors results in higher handhelds with a fair wider choice of playable video games for avid gamers. Till then, you’ll be able to try our Steam Deck OLED evaluate subsequent for our ideas on the very best handheld you should purchase proper now.
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