Gabe Newell has stated that he sees the Steam Deck as the leader in a new category of PC-based handhelds, one that could have “long-term benefits” for Steam.
In an interview with IGN, Newell explained that he viewed the Steam Deck as the start of a new “product category”, and hopes that other PC manufacturers will join in.
“Our view is, if we’re doing this right, that we’re going to be selling these in millions of units,” said Newell.
“And it’s clearly going to be establishing a product category that ourselves and other PC manufacturers are going to be able to participate in. And that’s going to have long-term benefits for us. So that’s sort of the frame in which we’re thinking about this.”
Newell also revealed his intentions behind the relatively affordable price, saying the process of settling on a value for the Steam Deck was “painful”. He said the company needed to be “very aggressive” in terms of pricing, citing price performance as “one of the critical factors in the mobile space”.
Scalpers have already started selling reservation slots to purchase the Steam Deck, with some listing the value at double the actual console price on eBay. These prices are purely for a reservation, rather than a full console.
The Steam Deck has had a generally positive reception since its announcement, specifying the benefits of a console made for PC gamers. Valve has also committed to erasing joystick drift, an issue that has been rife in handheld consoles of late.
One issue Valve is looking to address before the December 2021 launch of the Steam Deck is the fact that half of Steam’s most popular games will be unable to run on the console due to anti-cheat software limitations.
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