Comment on Steam Deck game library now 29% larger than that of Nintendo Switch

• dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The Deck is not sold in most parts of the world. This includes certain parts of Asia, Latin america, Australia, some European countries, and most of Africa. Essentially, if you’re not from the US, Canada, China or western Europe, buying a Deck directly from Valve is impossible. Import and distribution is also an impossibility. Region locking it still one of Valve’s biggest hurdles.

  So, to acquire one I have to pay an overhead to a reseller willing to sello it to me, foot the import bill, the local tariff, pay the courier, and at the end of all the device will be under no guarantee, support or protection.

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  • gh0stcassette@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    They really couldn’t, it’s just a Linux PC. Worst case scenario you could format the drive and install regular arch Linux on it (SteamOS is arch based, and you can add the repos for all of the custom steam packages to a standard arch install). Unlike the switch, you have direct, firmware level control over the hardware, which is why I bought it. I want to encourage more manufacturers to not lock down their hardware

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    • dustyData@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      If they were Ubisoft, Sony, Nintendo or any other shitty company they could block access to the Steam account or ban it outright, cutting me off hundreds of games. Hopefully, Valve is not like that yet. So, yes. I trust they wouldn’t do anything fucky when they notice that I’m connecting my Steam account to a device, theoretically, blocked in my region. But there’s some really intrusive shit you could do to prevent access or force it to be a piracy only machine.

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      • gh0stcassette@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        True, but they at least can’t brick the hardware itself, and if you were concerned about your steam account there’s always VPNs.

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