Valve has revealed that nearly half of all Steam Deck owners prefer it to other gaming platforms. This bit of consumer insight into the Linux-powered handheld arrived shortly after the console's first anniversary.
The fact that Valve's portable gaming system is doing well has been evident for a while now, not least because it took the company nearly eight months to match consumer demand with sufficient supply to start selling the Steam Deck without reservations. The console itself also dominated the news cycle as one of the most exciting new pieces of gaming hardware for over half a year before it started shipping to early adopters in February 2022.
In a retrospective interview commemorating the first anniversary of the Steam Deck, Valve UX Designer Lawrence Yang told Rock Paper Shotgun that the console's team is still consistently amazed by the positive response to their handheld. One metric that he found particularly surprising was that nearly half of all Steam Deck owners prefer it to other gaming platforms, with internal research indicating that 42% of that demographic primarily games on the Linux-powered handheld nowadays. While Valve remains secretive about the system's sales, seeing how it's a private company under no obligation to disclose such figures, previous reports claimed the company shipped over a million Steam Decks as of early October, just seven months into its release. Taking that estimate at face value, the percentage revealed by Yang suggests the Steam Deck is now the gaming platform of choice for hundreds of thousands of gamers the world over.
The continued success of the portable gaming system can be at least partially attributed to the consistent stream of community-informed updates that Valve has been releasing ever since the console started shipping to consumers. During the same interview, engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed those efforts to improve the console's overall capabilities won't be stopping anytime soon, whereas Yang also clarified Valve's plans for the Steam Deck 2.
As for the commercial performance of the company's first-generation handheld, the Steam Deck still appears to be enjoying strong momentum. This trend can be deduced from the fact that Valve is currently taking around two weeks on average to fulfill new Steam Deck orders, indicating its manufacturing output still hasn't fully matched the market demand for the handheld.
The newly revealed proportion of Steam Deck owners who seem to be thoroughly enjoying their purchase is even more impressive given the fairly wide appeal of the console. According to Valve's list of most played Steam Deck games in February 2023, the handheld is currently popular among the fans of everything from Hogwarts Legacy and Elden Ring to Stardew Valley, NBA 2K23, and GTA Online.
Source: Rock Paper Shotgun