Steam Deck OS on the Asus ROG Ally looking ever more likely thanks to new update [added support for “extra ROG Ally keys” and “Asus ROG Raikiri Pro controller.”]
Steam Deck OS on the Asus ROG Ally looking ever more likely thanks to new update [added support for “extra ROG Ally keys” and “Asus ROG Raikiri Pro controller.”]
With the arrival of a fresh SteamOS update, Valve is providing further hints that its Linux-based OS is destined for other gaming handhelds.
Given the ridiculously low prices of all Steam Deck models, I imagine that the main revenue for Valve is mainly from increased game sales rather than profit from their hardware. If that's the case, it makes sense to see Steam OS on as many devices as possible, even if they compete directly with the Steam Deck.
That being said, I'm just excited by any decision that puts Linux in front of more users.
They absolutely took the console business model on the Steam Deck. Just like the other big guys Sony, Nin, Micro. Sell the hardware at a loss with the promise that the customer will buy the associated products, in this case, the games from the steam store. The bigger and better difference of course being that you can do whatever with the steam Deck. But Valve knows that the majority will still get their games from Steam because it's just easier that way.
It's the old razor blade model. Sell the handle cheap because you know people will buy the razors for it, and they most likely buy your brand of razors since you bought their brand of handle.
Printer companies (at least home consumer ones) do it too but are slimy about it. Get a printer for $50 then buy ink for it that often costs twice as much.
Do you remember back in the early 2000's/2010's when steam machines for gaming tried to break into the market and there were laptops and gaming rigs you could get with steam os?
I'm asking because I wonder how that's going to go. It wasn't particularly successful back then, and given MS's hold on the gaming market and people buying into that OS, it seems like offering a skew of handhelds like the steam deck in both Windows and Steam OS will cause sales to drop. If I walk into Best buy or Microcenter and want to purchase the steam OS version of the ROG Ally but they only have the Windows one, I'm going to be disappointed. Same would happen in reverse.
That's what happenee back in the early aughts too. People didn't buy the steam version because they wanted the Windows version and so both versions did poorly (probably more poorly than they might have done otherwise).
Good news for everyone if more Linux-compatible handhelds are available.