Primarily in my life ive been a console gamer. Starting with the ps1 and owning every system released since. Never did much pc gaming even when i had access to a decent rig. For the past few years ive been a collector. Going for rare and cool retro games i always wanted to own. After about a year with the steam deck it all feel so… archaic? Like, i went and hdmi modded my ps2, but i find the idea of booting up pcsx2 on deck more appealing. I dont feel the need to have a new game in my hands physically, when i know its gonna take me months to play it anyway, i can wait for a sale, get it cheaper, play it portably with mods. Console gaming, especially in the last 2 generations, feels like a hinderance more than anything. Why would i want to be tied to one piece of hardware, with a dubious at best chance of carrying my games forward to the next gen every 6 years? The steam deck feels like its released me from the shackles of console gaming. I dont think ill get rid of my whole collection… but my ps5 and xsx have been doing a lot of dust collecting these days.
Anyone else feel the same? Or have i just had an existential gamer crisis?
I’ve always been a PC gamer with the exception of some console titles which are IP exclusives (Nintendo, for example). However, what the Steam Deck has fundamentally done for me is shown me that I don’t have to chase the latest and greatest hardware. I can have a LOT of fun with some actually fairly low grade hardware. I hope this pushes developers on a new direction where they full-stop pursuing maxing out the latest, greatest hardware and focus more on optimization (here’s looking at you, Bethesda).