Are gaming consoles dying? Soon you can play Windows games on your smartphone with Steam
As traditional gaming consoles face rising prices, Valve’s new Steam Frame VR headset and the potential for playing Windows games on smartphones via Steam signal a shift towards more accessible gaming options. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL
Image: Michael Sherman/IOL
I can still remember getting many hours of enjoyment from playing Snake on my swanky new Nokia. Fast forward a couple of decades, and soon will we be able to play blockbuster games on our smartphones thanks to new technology by Valve.
Valve is the company behind Steam - the app that lets Windows and Mac users purchase and run a huge library of games.
Their new product, the Steam Frame, is a VR headset that allows users to run the latest games. The important bit here is that the Steam Frame uses an ARM processor, which is the same type used by Apple phones.
Of course, since this is a headset - you can’t actually currently plug in your phone to some kind of controller and start gaming.
VR Technology in Gaming: From Headsets to Handhelds and Consoles
But if they can do that for a VR headset - there’s no difference in using that technology for a more traditional handheld gaming experience.
Steam also already makes the Steam Deck (handheld gaming device) and the Steam Machine (desktop-based gaming device).
This comes as prices of traditional consoles continue to rise.
Xbox Series S and X Price Surge: A Five-Year Analysis
Microsoft’s Xbox Series S and X consoles were released five years ago in November. The lower-spec Series S for 300 US dollars, which works out to around R5100, and the Series X for 500 US dollars, or about R8600. Of course, the price would be slightly more when the devices came to South Africa, but not much more.
I bought my Xbox Series S in March 2023 from Makro for R5999, and now the same model is going for R8999. That’s an increase of R3000 for the same product in less than three years.
If you want to pick up the Series X, it will cost you around R13999 at the moment. I remember considering the fancier Series X version, but at around R11k at the time, I was not prepared to fork out such a sum despite the performance gains. That’s especially since there was around a R5000 price difference between the two models— so I could have bought almost two Series S consoles for the same price.
It’s not just Xbox though, as the base model PlayStation 5 Digital Version has also increased in price by 400 US dollars in 2020 and to 500 in 2025.
PlayStation is the more popular console, with approximately 75 million units sold by 2025, with Xbox selling around 31 million.
The main attraction of Xbox for years was its GamePass subscription. But that too has increased ridiculously from R129 pm in 2023 to R349 now, while offering the same product.