Supporters attend the match between team Avangar from Kazakhstan and team Renegades from Australia at the Starladder Counter-Strike-Major event in Berlin on September 7, 2019. (Photo by Tobias SCHWARZ / AFP)
PARIS — A new battle for dominance of the lucrative games console market is looming after US company Valve unveiled a device to rival the hugely popular Nintendo Switch.
Valve, which owns gaming platform Steam, announced Thursday that it will start shipping its Steam Deck console in December with prices starting at $399.
The company boasted that the console, marketed as a hand-held PC, will give users “the most gaming power you have ever held” while allowing them to do everything they might otherwise do on a computer.
With its large seven-inch touch screen and high-performing processor, the Steam Deck has drawn instant comparisons with the Nintendo Switch, which has sold more than 80 million units since 2017.
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY
(FILES) In this file photo an employee walks past a logo of Japan’s Nintendo Co. at a Nintendo store in Tokyo on November 5, 2020. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP)
Valve is the studio behind hit games including Half-Life, Counter-Strike and Dota 2.
It was also a pioneer in terms of offering a catalogue of titles online, with its Steam platform the dominant player in the PC games market.
