If you look at the 3 console manufacturers, you’ll notice a pattern. Switch OLED was announced 3 months before release. Ps4 pro was announced 2 months before its release. Xbox one x was announced 5 months before release.
The steam deck OLED? 7 days
The reason that manufacturers give consumers at least a couple months before a release of a new device is so they can feel they made an informed decision on their purchase, and not feel burned when the next iteration is released. No, the device they currently have doesn’t lose inherent value to them. However, knowing that the next thing is coming out in just a couple weeks could make informed consumers hold off for the sale of the now outdated model.
Also inb4 people say “but it’s not a console…”, PC manufacturers have pretty consistent hardware release schedules as well, so the comparison stands.
The fact is this is an established norm for other manufacturers and that valve went against just comes across as anti consumer. And I think that just surprised a lot of people since Gabe’s whole “piracy is almost always a service problem…” Take and the return policy on games make the company appear as super consumer centric, however this release feels out of character.
I agree with you.
The thing is, when Original Steamdeck (from here on OG-SD in short) was released, the hardware was already kind of outdated, since in the last years alot happened hardware-wise. So, the price was kind of overpriced, at least for the 256GB and 512GB models. But Valve tried to stretch the sales for that price for as long as possible.
Then, they started to influence the used-market, by re-selling refurbished Decks for quiet a bit cheaper, but still with full warranty, and most importantly, originally refurbished by Valve themselves.
Then, they didn’t announce the new OLED Deck. They ‘surprised’ everyone. They milked the full price of the OG-SD as long as possible again, since after 14 days, no refund is possible anymore.
Finally admitting, that Valve was behind hardware-prices since longer, they released a proper Deck with 1 TB SSD, more RAM Speed, Oled Display, better APU technology and a better battery. For the same price as the OG-SD.
The mistake was, releasing nearly the same hardware power, but with better feature upgrades, for the very same price as the OG-SD. So, Valve had to reduce the OG-SD prices by alot. Oh and remember, they also involved themselves i the used-marked. So, they reduced the refurbished OG-SD prices by alot, too,
Now, another big problem: All of this happened within barely over 1 year. Your OG-SD is still ok power-wise, but the resell-value is now down as hell.
What impression does this leave on me: Valv doesn’t care about the customers, and the resell-value of used OG-SD. They wanted to milk as much money from the OG-SD as possible, before announcing the Oled Deck. Their only plan is to overrun the market with their lable and product, by trampling over the OG-SD price-value.