Missing the point? Many gamers apparently use their Steam Deck to play just one game

[Redaktion]

The Steam Deck was originally promoted as an all-purpose gaming machine, with access to a vast Steam library, emulators, cloud gaming and even a desktop mode. Yet a recent Reddit discussion suggests that many owners use the handheld for just one favorite game.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Missing-the-point-Many-gamers-apparently-use-their-Steam-Deck-to-play-just-one-game.1315371.0.html

[indyj]

Don't even use mine. It's impractical to use it for the few battery hours of life it gets when unplugged, and not powerful enough plugged in.

[Can confirm]

And I use Steam on my desktop PC to play just one game: CS2 and 64 players custom servers.

[Psp]

They do know that you can turn it off and carry on a game without pausing it or saving the game and the steam deck will sit in sleep mode until the battery dies, thats primarily why I binge a game. But I have 7 or 8 games i rotate through, especially since dayz is playable now

[Jácob]

I haven't touched my pc for gaming since buying my steamdeck but yet I still only play a handful of games out of my 300+ games in my library on the deck out of choice. I've been trying to branch out and try new games on the deck but they either don't feel good on the deck, don't run good on the deck or I lose interest too fast like bioshock, nfs, satisfactory or no man sky.

The batter is a little sluggish and the memory isn't big enough to install the amount of games I want and I have the 1TB version with a 512gb micro sd and it's still not enough. Games are big now days

[Jácob]

And playing emulators on the steamdeck is amazing. If you haven't taken advantage of the emulating capabilities of the steamdeck your crazy

[serious question]

Don't even use mine. It's impractical to use it for the few battery hours of life it gets when unplugged, and not powerful enough plugged in.

What made you keep yours instead of returning it within the return window period? I felt the same way on day 1, so I returned it.

To be fair, modern handhelds (Rog Xbox ally x, claw 8 ex ai+) seem to have fixed most of these issues but they've jacked up the price so much it's not worth it anymore.

[Techspy1337]

  It seems to me that the pattern of play is the same, whether on the PC or on the steam deck.  Some people play one game, rotating occasionally. On the other side there are those that switch between games often, like mentioned in the article. It doesn't seem to me that the steam deck is so much of a factor in this behavior.

[PureWicked.AU]

Hmmm, for me having the Steam Deck has meant that my library has grown massively,

 I used to be mainly a one game guy in the years previously,

 they were (going way back to Amiga) Moonstone, then PC the original Age Of Empires, then Myth, Myth 2, then Mount and Blade, TF2, the Heroes & Generals,

 but now my poor Steam Deck I've opened it up, have a 2tb SSD, 1TB SD Card, and over 1100 games installed and mostly kept up to date...
      Of which I've admittedly played 5% or so for any length of time, but the hunger for a big collection at a bargain price is a curse, Humble Bundle, Fanatical keep tempting me

[citral]

I have finished countless games on my deck. Many switching back and forth between pc in bedroom and SD on couch (or when it's too hot, 15W is so nice) or because pixel art just doesn't look good on 49" 5120x1440 (it's stucked at 16:9 anyway)

I only play one game at a time though bare a few "infinite" games like balatro.

[indyo]

Don't even use mine. It's impractical to use it for the few battery hours of life it gets when unplugged, and not powerful enough plugged in.

What made you keep yours instead of returning it within the return window period? I felt the same way on day 1, so I returned it.

To be fair, modern handhelds (Rog Xbox ally x, claw 8 ex ai+) seem to have fixed most of these issues but they've jacked up the price so much it's not worth it anymore.

Was a gift.  I stuck with it for some games that took me outside the return window.  Then it just lost its appeal after I got a PS5 Pro. As I age, I no longer have the passion for upkeeping a PC/Steam versus just playing any game on a Subscription service.