A wild announcement appears
Nintendo is known for wowing the gaming community with their ‘Direct’ series of marketing campaigns. These Direct events are veiled in secrecy and rarely is there any credible foreshadowing to tip-off Nintendo fans as to what might be in them. Such is the case with Nintendo’s latest direct, which surprised fans with a trailer for the Portal: Companion Collection.
Valve"s failure to deliver
The marketing team at Valve have not been so lucky. When it announced the Steam Machine initiative in 2013, it was the start of a hit-or-miss news cycle. They were grappling with a external message that saw them vying for a place in the living room, while battling a full-on business crisis internally. Microsoft had released Windows 8, and they were pushing users toward the Microsoft store for games and software, and a botched attempt to move to ARM sought to lock users into using it. While this never took off for Microsoft, it was a serious threat to Valve which resulted in increased focus on their Mac and Linux clients.
In 2015, Valve released the first Steam Machine to the public in partnership with Alienware and it was dead on arrival. Also arriving that year was Steam Controller, arguably the best, most configurable and flexible handheld input device ever. The Steam machine failed on two fronts. First, they were underpowered, desperate to hit price points that weren"t even in striking distance of an Xbox or PlayStation. Secondly, Valve’s Steam OS was not ready for prime time. They’d hoped demand would be great enough for developers to work on Linux ports that made use of SteamInput and the flexibility of the Steam Controller, but reception was lukewarm at best.
However, Valve have been working in the shadows of mainstream gaming for years, toiling endlessly for a way to gain their independence from Windows. The way forward was announced in 2018 with Proton. Valve have chosen its battles carefully and realized that they couldn’t slay the giant with Linux ports of Windows games, so they set about simply making those Windows games compatible with Linux.
The absolute masterstroke
Valve was surprised and delighted by the reception of their Steam Deck announcement over the summer, so much so that the company is shifting its focus to ensuring the success of the device. Ironically, they’ve just given themselves a second chance to do what they initially sought out to do. On Feb. 25th, they will be releasing a Steam Machine and a Steam Controller, all over again, but in a single package.
Just a few weeks ago we brought you reports of the very first Steam Deck Verified game, Portal 2. It seemed like an odd choice at first, seeing as the game is now 11 years old, but as a first party title for Valve and a classic in its own right, it"s worthy of carrying the flag. However, announcing a port for the Nintendo Switch mere weeks before the launch of Steam Deck is a brilliant move that will not only bolster sales for the aging property, but put Steam Deck into a lot more conversations. Valve publishing a game for another portable console, one that is wildly successful, will give casual gamers a heightened awareness of the Steam Deck and Valve. Consequently, it will cause Steam Deck to appear in a lot of comparison videos down the line.
They need to nail it
Valve needs to nail this port. This is their entry into another world, putting the Portal franchise into the hands of an entirely new generation of players. Their mark of quality needs to be strong here, as this, and potentially other Source engine games will be in the hands of gamers who don’t care about Windows or Linux. These gamers will approach Steam Deck in the way Valve wants most, as a console.
Flawless execution
Valve is absolutely executing its marketing this time. When Steam OS, Steam Machine, and Steam Controller launched in 2015, the gaming public were confused. Not this time around. There were too many questions about compatibility, and too many questions about use case, hardware, and software. This time, Valve have managed to educate the public in the best way possible. This means that for the most part, media outlets and the early adopters who reserved it, are treating the Steam Deck like what it really is – a console. There will be people who install Windows on this thing, and they will brag about being able to run every game every made. They’ll spend hours, if not days, configuring launchers and emulators, and they will have a lot of fun. Great! For every one of them, there will be a hundred others who simply navigate to the Steam Deck verified list in the storefront and just have a good time. I will be one of them.