Steam deck vs. Asus ROG Ally: the battle between handheld consoles is more relevant than ever

When we talk about the console war, we tend to quickly associate it with the rivalry that exists between different desktop platforms. A competition that, by the way, spanned several generations of video games. However, in recent years there is a sector in which competition is growing: PC based handheld consoles. Yeah, the one where Valve line their pockets steam deck.

While it is true that there have been battles between laptops over time, mainly between the Nintendo and PlayStation offerings, today there are different players who want to revive the competition in the aforementioned sector.

The advent and huge success of the Nintendo Switch demonstrated that consumers still crave portable devices. To the above, we must add that mobile devices have established themselves as one of the most popular gaming platforms for many years. In short, having hardware that allows us to enjoy video games wherever we are is still quite advantageous.

However, in mid-2021, the video game giant wowed everyone by introducing its own handheld console. Valve, the owner of the largest platform for the distribution of computer games, introduced the Steam Deck to the world. In essence, those led by Gabe Newell turned the computer into gaming hardware for mobile devices. Its strongest point, of course, is that it offers access to your Steam library.

At first, some mistakenly tried to counter it with the Nintendo Switch. However, it didn’t take long for Valve itself to clarify that its target market is completely different from that claimed by Kyoto’s representatives. The Steam Stack is for those people, mostly hardcore gamers, who already have a PC to play with and want to bring that experience to a portable terrain.

To the surprise of many Steam Deck was a complete success despite the many obstacles he overcame along the way. It should not be forgotten that the console was released in February 2022, at the height of the component crisis caused by the pandemic. In the early months, it was not possible to produce enough units to meet demand, making it impossible to meet demand. Stocks that arrived, stocks that left in seconds.

The deficit began to be eliminated at the end of last year and Valve managed to normalize the production of Steam Deck. This was crucial to find out if the console was really as desirable as it was in the early months. Fortunately for the company, interest in its hardware has not diminished, quite the contrary. We constantly see the product among the best sellers on Steam. And in regions where there is no official distribution, such as Mexico, it was also a top seller in several stores.

Now it is important to mention that Steam Deck cannot be considered the pioneer of computer handheld consoles.. In fact, before his birth, the scene was already dominated by many other producers.

ONEXPlayer, Ayaneo, Ayn, GPD and RETROID are some of them that have spent several years making efforts to expand their market presence. Chinese brand Ayaneo, for example, several models are sold that are suitable for different needs and pockets. As for the pace of launching new equipment, they are the most active. Another company that was trying to make it in the portable console market at the time was NVIDIA itself with its Shield Portable. Unfortunately, those led by Jen-Hsun Huang did not achieve the expected results.

So what has changed with the advent of Steam Deck? A lot, really. The presence of a giant of the video game industry in this market also implies that have the necessary resources to develop, manufacture and distribute equipment on a large scale. Thus, unlike other consoles, Steam Deck managed to win more hands. Likewise, price, compatibility with thousands of Steam games, and an operating system tailored to handheld devices were also differentiating factors.

Asus threatens Steam Deck reign with ROG Ally

When it seemed like Valve had a clear path to dominance in the sector without a serious contender to oppose it, the landscape changed.

April 1, Asus introduced HORN ally, a portable game console that can run the entire library of PC games (the main operating system is Windows). The problem is that no one took his existence seriously. Because? For some “weird” reason, the manufacturer made the announcement right on April Fool’s Day, a day when many companies pick up on jokes. However, Asus product is completely real.

To avoid confusion, Asus confirmed than ROG Ally will see the light of day sometime this year. At the moment it is a hardware prototype that is still in development. That didn’t stop them from revealing some technical details. Also important Youtubers PC gamers like Linus Tech Tips and Dave Lee got the console to test it out.

Be careful, Asus guarantees that ROG Ally is twice as powerful as Steam Deck. Inside, it will integrate the latest laptop components. For example, a dedicated AMD Ryzen 4nm APU (GPU + CPU), Zen 4 architecture and RDNA 3 graphics. With these specs, it can certainly outperform the Steam Deck with ease.

Another feature of Asus ROG Ally is the 16:9 aspect ratio screen. Although it retains the panel dimensions of its competitors (7 inches), it offers Resolution 1920 x 1080 (versus 1280×800 on Steam Deck). More importantly, its refresh rate reaches 120 Hz, which will attract the attention of those who love competitive video games. In addition, brightness up to 500 nits.

With these features, it would be normal to assume that ROG Ally will be much more expensive than Steam Deck. However, Asus guarantees that the price will be very competitive.. Do we believe them? Well, Best Buy, one of the largest hardware stores in North America, will be distributing this equipment in the region. They never commit to selling these types of products unless they are sure they will succeed. They know something…

Will the next war between handheld consoles start?

If Asus manages to deliver on all of its promises with ROG Ally, especially those regarding “competitive pricing” and growing global availability, we’ll see the next great handheld war.

The best thing that can happen to the industry is that two giants like Asus and Valve, whose presence in the field of PC games is more than consolidated, will face each other in a product segment that is experiencing a new boom.

As it happened with desktop consoles, The higher the competition, the better products will be available to consumers.. According to Valve, the Asus ROG Ally could well prompt Valve to speed up its plans with the second generation of the Steam Deck, which Valve says is still a few years away.