Can Valve's pre-sale of handheld consoles be a catalyst for Steam's development?

Players who are familiar with PC games are also familiar with the Steam platform. The Steam console that was previously announced to be released in October is a way for Valve to bring PC games into the living room.

Recently, at the Cologne Game Show in Germany, Valve released a text-only video, announcing that the SMACH Zero, a handheld game console based on Steam OS launched in June last year, will start pre-sale this year, and announced the configuration and pre-sale date.

As for Steam, which is well-known for PC games, can handheld game consoles and consoles share the world with traditional console giants Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo?

What exactly is the handheld game console that Valve is pre-selling?

At this year's Cologne Games Show, Valve released a "high-end" text-only video. Although the appearance of this handheld game console was announced last year, it is still very mysterious. From the beginning to the end of the entire conference, only some basic hardware configurations were learned, and even whether the product will be finished has become a mystery.

Judging from the information currently known, this handheld game console seems to be different from other handheld game consoles. SMACH Zero is equipped with an AMD embedded processor based on Jaguar architecture CPU and GCN architecture GPU, 4GB memory, 32GB storage, and supports SD card expansion. It is equipped with a 5-inch 720p display, HDMI, USB interface, support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G network. And this handheld game console based on SteamOS is said to be able to run more than 1,000 games on the Steam platform.

Although no prototype has appeared, it remains to be seen whether SMACH Zero can allow people to play PC games anytime and anywhere as Valve said.

Want to use the handheld game console to fight with Nintendo?

Currently, the handheld market is still dominated by Sony and Nintendo. Most manufacturers have tried their hand in the market, but have either withdrawn or switched to mobile games. One of the reasons is the lack of games. Valve said that Smach Zero can play most Steam games. Is this a bargaining chip for Valve to compete with the handheld giants Sony and Nintendo?

This handheld game console, which may be the most powerful in history, fundamentally seems to be a customized mobile PC. It is reasonable to configure it with an AMD processor, and its high-end configuration completely crushes the handheld game console series of Dafa and Nintendo. However, this does not seem to mean anything.

Although the performance of the Steam OS-based Smach Zero is not as good as that of the Steam Console, its usage is no different from that of the Steam Console. Except for its mobility and touch screen pad, which seem to save it the money for the Steam controller, it still has many shortcomings compared to traditional handheld game consoles.

The high price is exactly the old path that Steam consoles have taken. Although GC announced that Smach Zero can play famous games such as "Half-Life 2" and "Dota2", its price of US$299 seems a bit hard to accept.

Exclusive games also seem unable to compete with Dafa and Nintendo at this stage. However, Smach Zero is not a Steam console after all. There is still a gap between a non-mobile PC and a portable PC. The design of a handheld game console is different from that of a notebook. It is more like a mobile phone. Exclusive games like "Dota2" are said to be able to run smoothly on Smach Zero.

If the real thing appears next year, as Valve said, then Smach Zero still has the potential to grab a share of the handheld market.

Is Steam's model reliable?

After Valve launched the console, it also launched the mobile handheld game console. This approach seems familiar, just like Sony and Nintendo in the past. Even in May this year, Huang released the NVIDIA shield Android game console and its controller handheld game console. It seems that the combination of console and handheld game console has become a solid state in this industry. So in the future development, can Steam continue to follow this model?

Sony and Nintendo are considered the big players in the console and handheld game worlds. They both have a considerable number of exclusive games in the console world, while PSV and 3DS have made a name for themselves in the handheld game world, especially the parallax barrier technology of 3DS, which makes players love it. However, Nintendo seems to be still struggling with its own games, and Sony does not have many highlights in the exclusive games of PSV. It is estimated that they will find it difficult to take a new step forward.

Looking at NVIDIA's Android game console, although it can play many PC games through streaming, there are too few exclusive games. Most games can be found on PC. The only good experience is the high configuration and high performance of Shield. This also makes the global sales slightly average despite the good reputation.

Faced with the predecessors who have appeared before, Sony and Nintendo have developed by relying on a large number of exclusive games, while NV has excellent technology and hardware. What does Valve have? Platform. The emergence of a large number of PC games and some original games seems to make up for the lack of content due to the lack of exclusive games, and the high-performance configuration in the publicity seems to be able to compete with NV. No wonder Valve is confident in launching a handheld game console without a shadow, and perhaps believes that it can go smoothly.

However, with the stumbling development of the Steam console and the yet to be seen handheld game consoles, having the Steam platform alone is of no help. Even though Valve has painted a big picture for a bright future, the Steam console is not expected by players now due to its high price and game compatibility issues. As for whether the Smach Zero handheld game console is really that, we will have to wait until next year.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.