The Steam Deck is changing how I buy games

Buying games for multiple platforms was an easy decision for me: I would almost always get them on the Nintendo Switch because it’s so easy to play games on a TV as well as in portable mode. The Steam Deck has played a key role in that decision-making process. The portable gaming PC might be heavier, have worse battery life, and don’t come with a simple Switch-esque dock to throw my games on a bigger screen, but because I feel like I can count on Steam games a lot longer available in the future, I’ll have to make tough choices about whether to buy games from Valve’s store instead of Nintendo’s.

There’s one important thing I must say up front: I hadn’t owned a single gaming PC until I got the Steam Deck in April. For a long time, I mainly played video games on Nintendo platforms, and I only really started digging seriously into the PlayStation and Xbox libraries with the onset of the pandemic. (I have a PS4 to play) Final Fantasy VII Remakeand it escalated from there.)

While I’ve bought many Steam games on sale or in Humble Bundles, I’ve only played a handful of them and only on old work laptops or my personal MacBook Airs. The Steam Deck, on the other hand, is a much more capable gaming device than any laptop I’ve ever owned. Once I set it up, I suddenly had access to nearly 200 PC games I’d previously purchased or claimed, and I could play them on my couch or plugged into an external display. I knew that would be the case when I placed my reservation for the Steam Deck last year, but seeing the games on my own device was an eye opener.

However, with Switch games, there’s no guarantee they’ll work with Nintendo’s next big console. At this point, I just have to cross my fingers that Nintendo chooses to make that console backward compatible with my Switch purchases. Personally, I don’t count on it – Nintendo loves finding new ways to resell old games.

I would have liked to bring Mario Kart 8 from my Wii U to the Switch, but to be able to play it with my colleagues during the pandemicI had to cough up the full price for it Mario Kart 8 Deluxe† Access to retro games is one of the main benefits of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription, but all the Virtual Console purchases I made years ago are not available on my Switch. And Nintendo isn’t afraid to close storefronts.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

With Steam, on the other hand, I can be pretty sure that just about anything I buy that works now on the Steam Deck will work just fine on any subsequent Steam Deck or gaming-capable computer I buy well into the future (as long as since the game supports any operating system of course). I’m making a big assumption that Valve won’t be acquired or suddenly fall off the face of the earth – anything can happen in the video game industry, so maybe I shouldn’t be tempting fate – but Valve seems to have a good thing going.

I also have to say that on my Steam Deck I’m generally drawn to smaller and indie titles like Hotline Miami† Insideand The Parable of Stanley: Ultra Deluxe† I suspect these are the kind of games I personally want to return to at some point in the future, and it will be a lot easier to just download them again on PC rather than dig up my Switch once they are unavoidable. spot on my TV cabinet.

Despite how much I love the Steam Deck and the potential that the Steam platform will give me easy access to games years and years later, I haven’t fully committed myself to Valve’s ecosystem yet, as it’s a hassle to get Steam Deck-enabled. games on my TV. Part of the Switch’s magic is how effortlessly it switches from handheld to TV mode when you dock the device, and while the Steam Deck can connect to external displays, there’s still no option quite as simple. as the Switch experience.

I’d been looking forward to the official Steam Deck dock to see if that could come close, but since it was delayed I’ll have to keep waiting. But while I don’t expect the Steam Deck to ever be as easy to play on a TV as a Switch, being able to play decades of PC games at home on the big screen might be worth some inconvenience. and to know that anything I buy now will probably work on other PCs later.

At the moment I still choose the Switch for many games. (And of course there are the big games like Zelda and metro which are only available on the Switch.) But what used to be a no-brainer is now something I need to think carefully about, and as Valve continues to improve the Steam Deck, choices could be even more difficult in the future.