They basically already have one. The steam deck with the dock (though you have to provide your own controller.)
They’d certainly gain some performance improvements by building a dedicated steam machine, but it would also split the market for the steam deck, which the article already talked about as being a negative of the first iteration.
Dunno, I probably wouldn’t get a stationary steam machine over a mobile steam deck. Though being able to use Thunderbolt 4 for an eGPU on a steam deck would be a welcome enhancement, but that’s a whole different discussion.
I like the deck and am thinking about the dock for it, but the controller thing is something I’m wondering about. Any idea if it can handle 3-4 of them wirelessly? I mainly want to put it on the tv for local co op or party games, but I usually use ps4 controllers and have found their bluetooth is awful on PC.
It somewhat depends on the game, and the order that you pair things in.
I’ve run my steam deck, docked on the TV, with 2 Nintendo Pro controllers, 1 XBox controller, 1 Stadia controller, all running over bluetooth, and a fifth PS3 controller plugged in via USB. From what I understand the limit is 8 controllers, but I think the built in controller counts as one.
You can go into the settings and tell it which controller is which, but in the end, the game can override things and make it not work as expected. The only way to really know is to check on a game-by-game basis.
I regularly use 4 wireless Xbox controllers for this exact purpose, and it works great. There’s always the occasional Bluetooth quirks, but overall it’s seamless
I can confirm two in use simultaneously and a total of three connected (2 xbone, 1 PS5) but we were playing a two player only game. I would assume that if the game supports it, the deck would too.
… But that’s an assumption :)
EDIT: to clarify - the wireless connectivity support is from the deck, not the dock.
They basically already have one. The steam deck with the dock (though you have to provide your own controller.)
They’d certainly gain some performance improvements by building a dedicated steam machine, but it would also split the market for the steam deck, which the article already talked about as being a negative of the first iteration.
Dunno, I probably wouldn’t get a stationary steam machine over a mobile steam deck. Though being able to use Thunderbolt 4 for an eGPU on a steam deck would be a welcome enhancement, but that’s a whole different discussion.
I like the deck and am thinking about the dock for it, but the controller thing is something I’m wondering about. Any idea if it can handle 3-4 of them wirelessly? I mainly want to put it on the tv for local co op or party games, but I usually use ps4 controllers and have found their bluetooth is awful on PC.
It somewhat depends on the game, and the order that you pair things in.
I’ve run my steam deck, docked on the TV, with 2 Nintendo Pro controllers, 1 XBox controller, 1 Stadia controller, all running over bluetooth, and a fifth PS3 controller plugged in via USB. From what I understand the limit is 8 controllers, but I think the built in controller counts as one.
You can go into the settings and tell it which controller is which, but in the end, the game can override things and make it not work as expected. The only way to really know is to check on a game-by-game basis.
I regularly use 4 wireless Xbox controllers for this exact purpose, and it works great. There’s always the occasional Bluetooth quirks, but overall it’s seamless
I’ve managed to do 6 player Ps2 emulation on it just fine.
3-4 controllers would be ez.
I can confirm two in use simultaneously and a total of three connected (2 xbone, 1 PS5) but we were playing a two player only game. I would assume that if the game supports it, the deck would too.
… But that’s an assumption :)
EDIT: to clarify - the wireless connectivity support is from the deck, not the dock.