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Comment by spiderice | Hacker News Reader

Prepare for the PS6 to cost $1200 then. The hardware is sold at a loss, which I think justifies them being able to recoup their costs through selling software.

Honestly I don’t know why people think they should be able to publish their software on anything anyways. I can see the iOS/android argument at least because they’re ubiquitous. But there is nothing wrong with how game consoles currently work. It’s a win for Sony/M$/Nintendo, game developers, and consumers. If it wasn’t, then games would only get released on PC (which already allows for exactly what you seem to be advocating for)

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That's how the market used to work, but hasn't been the case for generations. Nintendo has sold every platform from the Wii on at a profit.

The PS5 was sold at a slight loss at launch, Sony got production costs down enough to be profitable about a year later (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-04/sony-rais...).

I'm less sure about Microsoft, my understanding is that the Series X is profitable and the Series S is a loss leader. However, both of them can be put into a developer mode and you can run your own (or other people's) code.

My steamdeck certanly didn't cost that much. It also runs arch btw and I can install anything I want on it.

The Stem Deck is a perfect device.

I want one with more power in a displayless box I can plug into my TV and make it my only console.

(they tried with the Steambox, but it kinda faltered)

https://www.amazon.ca/Beelink-Computer-Desktop-Display-2-5Gb...

I mean, you're basically describing the mini-pc form factor. I'm not sure exactly where the steamdeck lies but the last couple of years these laptop CPU based systems have been pretty amazing for what they pack.

The one big (to me) advantage of the Steam Deck is that it's a static system, this way many games have a preset specifically for the deck, usually automatically applied on boot.

No need to spend hours adjusting settings and scouring the internet for That One Setting that will make it run smoothly.

Even CP2077 runs great out of the box on it - and it's nigh-unplayable on PS4 level hardware.

Sure, go for it. Price points won't change, consumers are only willing to pay so much for game systems, so we'll see just how close to the FUD price the market will get. I doubt prices will change much if at all.

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