I keep seeing people saying things like, “it’s not like the lcd version becomes useless after the OLED” and that’s true. However, there was no real warning in advance that this was coming. In fact, Valve played up how much it wasn’t coming and how satisfied they were with the original deck.
I decided to go with the deck over the ally shortly after the reviews because of steamOS and the ease of use experience, but with the OLED announced now I can’t help but feel like I got played.
Between the OLED, the ally and the original, I now have the device with the worst screen, the loudest fan and as someone who also plays plugged in all the time, the worst performance(as far as power and wifi goes).
They couldn’t have given a heads up to us that a refresh was coming? A tempering of the expectations, saying hey, it’s not a steam deck 2, but stay tuned. If I had known this just a few months ago I would’ve waited or bought the ally.
I’ve always considered myself a valve fanboy and I know technology moves fast, but this feels pretty blatantly anti-consumer, which isn’t typically valves approach.
At the end of the day buyer beware I suppose.
I live in New Zealand, Valve do not sell the steam deck here. I finally caved and bought one a month ago from a local parallel import shop for $NZD1170 (256gb). It’s been available here since last year from these resellers but the high price always put it out of reach to me, that’s the price we pay for living at the end of the world.
I love this thing, of course I want the new better model but I have no choice but to be happy with my purchase until the new model becomes available generally, this way I get to play steam deck now instead of waiting forever…
i Get that people are annoyed by the lack of messaging I am a little too, but Valve probably cant hear the complaints over the sound of all the money they are making.