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Imagine @steampowered.com releases a new version of Steamdeck, that is slightly more powerful, but comes without a display or controller, and works with external display and bluetooth controllers. Would you buy it? Sounded silly in 2018, doesn’t sound half-bad in 2024.

I would consider. But that would be just a small PC then... I'd rather buy a PC

I have to admit, the thought is appealing for having a device under the TV specifically. Right now, I plug my gaming laptop in via HDMI, which is OK but finicky. Problem is, 4K TVs are standard now and the price to put an SoC in it powerful enough to drive that display would make it crazy pricey.

If Microsoft and PlayStation were able do deliver hardware that supports it under $400 than Valve can probably match it. They could also benefit from using a lot of DLSS tricks that were not available at the start of the generation. Plus console players don't have the highest standards in general.

It's be relatively easy for Valve to make a competitively priced TV box that could play indie games. And as someone who plays at least 80% indies now, I'd be all for it. But it has to be AAA capable to get the console base and that's tricky, even for someone with their size and resources.

SteamDeck is already AAA-capable. That's exactly the reason I'm thinking about it. Cutting the cost by removing the display, the battery, and the controller and removing the mobility factor could already result in a viable product that would run AAA games on competitive price point.