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Valve on the Steam Frame: 'I wish we could have shipped it at the price that we were at last year' (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 1 month ago by to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca
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t's certainly been a journey for Valve. A week prior to the Steam Frame's launch, we spoke with two engineers at Valve about the project: Joy Lyons, hardware engineer, and Jeremy Selan, software engineer. The memory crisis and the price were a big part of that conversation. From that chat, we can confirm that Valve had aimed for a lower price point than the one it's launching the Frame for today.

Here's Lyons on the memory crisis:

"We set out to design this hardware with one particular price in mind, but we've made choices to make sure that we're making a product that is choiceful, that people can purchase, they can upgrade with different features later. But we wanted to make sure we had a base product with really great performance. Then that price target shifted due to the ongoing RAM crisis around the world."

Lyons also said that forecasting for the cost of certain components used in the Steam Frame is an ongoing challenge.

Not exactly boding well of the Steam Deck 2.

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[–] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (4 children)

It's a decision of conscience. Do you:

  • get a product that respects you and will be supported by Valve like all their hardware (the ancient Steam Link still works fine!) at a higher price or
  • get a product that spies on you from all angles and sells your data to everyone who wants it, even the police, at a lower price point, while it might be become legacy hardware at the drop of the hat?

I know where i will be spending my cash.

Edit: one of the reviewers of the comparison between the Quest 3 and the Frame at GN started getting advertisements on his private phone for VR stuff after working with the Quest. That's the level of privacy the Quest offers you: none.

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  • [+] -12 points 1 month ago (3 children)

    How are we in the year 2026 and still not realizing every single device connected to the internet is spying on you? No corporation respects you, their fiduciary duty is to extract as much wealth from you as possible. This is why the Gabe cultists are so disappointing. Sure, Valve is the best of the gaming industry, but that's like being the least smelly shit sandwich.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 child)

    Valve was very open regarding what information they collect. Outside of the data they already process via the steam client like what games you are playing to make fitting store recommendations, they only receive any operational data from the Frame when you send bug reports, which you must approve for every single one of them. I have a Steam account now since HalfLife2 has released with over 1400 titles in it, and i never got any ads on my phone for even a single PC game.

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  • [+] -13 points 1 month ago

    Hey if you can justify $1100 towards some plastic that will collect dust more power to ya. I don't trust Valve's word like I don't trust Meta's. They're all the same corporation at the end of the day. $300 is a lot more digestible for something that's really still a curiosity and won't replace traditional gaming. I'm mostly just disappointed so many here are defending this corporate slop.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

    I will pay extra for devices that don't spy on me. There's a market for it, and I'm the target audience. If I don't fork out for devices that respect my privacy, they won't exist in the future, and I can kiss goodbye the chance of ever having a full suite of devices that aren't constantly selling every moment of my life to advertisers and whoever else wants it.

    My next phone will probably run GrapheneOS. My car is a 2016 hatchback that I removed the OnStar module from myself. I don't have Alexa, I don't have a smart home, I don't have a Ring doorbell. My laptop is a Framework that I'm strongly considering installing Linux on as its primary OS. Every computer I use has Firefox as its browser with multiple privacy-focused plugins. Your argument is shit and you should feel bad for making it. More devices that respect privacy is better, and just throwing your hands up and saying 'They all do it, give up!' is both idiotic and counter-productive.

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