Competition in terms of hardware is still competition, regardless of if Valve maintains their share in another market. Even then, SteamOS seems to be primarily an attempt to disrupt an even bigger, more powerful, and more malicious monopoly: Microsoft.
It’s been discussed Ad Nauseum at this point but it’s very likely Valve is making little to no money on Steam Deck hardware. That’s why they’re so much cheaper than everyone else. So no, I don’t think it is.
Again, that doesn’t mean they’re not competeing. Valve is using their presence in the online retailer market to help fund their hardware, but its not like they’re releasing them for free or anything and its not like most other hardware OEMs can’t do this. Companies like Asus and MSI aren’t small companies, they can and do use the same tactics if the market is worth it. Even assuming they’re released literally at-cost, Valve isn’t exactly an established OEM - other companies already have decades of experience, established computer manufacturing and logistics networks, Valve is the new disruptior trying to get established, not the other way around.
The point is, Valve doesn’t care if you choose to buy an Ally or a Go or a Claw or any of the dozens of Ayaneo devices instead of a Steam Deck, because at the end of the day, they’re still making money selling games. In fact they’d probably prefer you buy someone else’s devices and they can leave the handheld market altogether and refocus their resources onto SteamOS or any of their other products or services.
Competition in terms of hardware is still competition, regardless of if Valve maintains their share in another market. Even then, SteamOS seems to be primarily an attempt to disrupt an even bigger, more powerful, and more malicious monopoly: Microsoft.
It’s been discussed Ad Nauseum at this point but it’s very likely Valve is making little to no money on Steam Deck hardware. That’s why they’re so much cheaper than everyone else. So no, I don’t think it is.
Again, that doesn’t mean they’re not competeing. Valve is using their presence in the online retailer market to help fund their hardware, but its not like they’re releasing them for free or anything and its not like most other hardware OEMs can’t do this. Companies like Asus and MSI aren’t small companies, they can and do use the same tactics if the market is worth it. Even assuming they’re released literally at-cost, Valve isn’t exactly an established OEM - other companies already have decades of experience, established computer manufacturing and logistics networks, Valve is the new disruptior trying to get established, not the other way around.
The point is, Valve doesn’t care if you choose to buy an Ally or a Go or a Claw or any of the dozens of Ayaneo devices instead of a Steam Deck, because at the end of the day, they’re still making money selling games. In fact they’d probably prefer you buy someone else’s devices and they can leave the handheld market altogether and refocus their resources onto SteamOS or any of their other products or services.
I think that makes them NOT competitors.