Når man kaster et blik på Steam Deck, så er det svært ikke at øjeblikkeligt tænke på Nintendo Switch-konsollen, mest fordi at selve formen lader til at være inspireret deraf. Men det betyder ikke at de to håndholdte sigter efter de samme forbrugere. Ifølge Valve kan de to sagtens stå side om side på markedet.
I et interview med IGN fortæller designer Greg Coomer, at Deck sigter efter det publikum der i forvejen er investeret i Steam, og at de ikke som sådan "går efter" Switch-publikummet.
"We tried to make all the decisions really in Steam Deck that targeted that audience and that served the customers that were already having a good time interacting with the games that are on that platform, on our platform. That really was how we were making our decisions. We've ended up with a device that cosmetically shares some traits with a Switch, but that just was... it's kind of an artifact of how we've proceeded down the design direction."
Steam Deck lander senere på efteråret, og Valve-chef Gabe Newell håber at de kommer til at sælge "millioner" af enheder.