GPD Claims Steam Deck is Worse than Win 3 and is Closed Platform. Users Call GPD’s Statement Shameful.

[Jaxseven]

Summary

Back during the announcement of the Steam Deck in August, the official news for GPD in China made a post claiming the Steam Deck was inferior to their Win 3 and Win Max 2021 on the level of technical specs and how Valve’s Linux distro SteamOS would be a closed platform. By the end of the article the company essentially say do not trust “the capitalists” and says users will need to install Windows anyway to play their pirated games. This article has recently circulated Reddit on r/SteamDeck and /gpdwin to some ridicule from GPD’s western consumers. From the “word-for-word” translated Reddit post such highlights include the following. 

 

Quote

 [In reference to a comparison of CPU specs between the Deck and Win devices] As you can see above, the Steam Deck is using a custom APU, the CPU part is still ZEN2 architecture, there is nothing outstanding...

 

From its low efficiency in rendering games and its announced 15W TDP power consumption limit, I can clearly say that the overall performance of Steam Deck is not the level of GPD WIN 3.

 

Don't kid yourself! The only reason Gabe created this product is to make a closed system, not to let you install Windows to play pirated games!

 

The Reddit post was later updated to include comments on GPD’s post from their Chinese consumers though the redditor notes they did not do a word-for-word translation due to time and the amount of slang used. They not most commenters feel the post is hilarious yet shameful in some following quotes:

 

Quote

 

(579 likes) Pirated games are always a grey area, it's fine you talk about it among your groups, but putting it in the official announcements??? You're telling pirating games is an advantage and paying actual money for a game is a disadvantage?? What the fuck is your company talking about. (vaguely accurate translation)

GPD replied: (9 likes) Let me tell you, as long as there would be a pirated equivalent online, I will not pay the real game, people will not pay for the real game. I never say pirating is an advantage, but I do believe if you're able to find a pirated version then you definitely should play it, you're better than 99% of the people. Do you think telling the truth about the phenomenon is showing off?

 

 

My thoughts

I backed the GPD Win 3 prior to the announcement of the Steam Deck in January and still currently have mine. As I’ve been watching coverage of the Steam Deck I’ve been running my own benchmarks and tests on my unit and unsurprisingly the Win 3 is objectively worse than the Steam Deck in terms of performance. It is especially funny to me when in GPD’s post they had one line about drivers and speaking from experience the Intel graphics drivers are maddening. Typically the only reliable aspect of my Win 3 is emulation as most emulators work well but games are still after over a year hit or miss. Halo Infinite and God of War are two recent examples that were broken on launch.

 

The above is more a fault of Intel Graphic Drivers rather than GPD, however in a lengthy Reddit post I made discussed the various issues with their products either breaking or not having the correct parts as advertised. My unit was part of a batch of Win 3s that had a much older WiFi chip than what was advertised on their IndieGoGo page which had it’s own drama. I suggest reading my Reddit post for the full story about the WiFi chip which was honestly a long saga that ended in people picking between basically hush money or filing chargebacks for their Win 3. My Win 3 dock’s RJ45 port seems to not function and the thumb stick caps immediately became loose on my unit and I was forced to buy replacement caps to be able to comfortably game on my Win 3. I am frustrated in my choice to back the Win 3 partly due to the announcement of the Steam Deck shortly after receiving my unit but mostly due to seeing the Aya Neo seemingly being a superior product in terms of quality and reliability. I think my disappointment in GPD is far greater because of the fact that there aren’t many companies making handheld (Aya, GPD, OneNetbook, certainly not Dell) so to have one deliver poor quality products hurt more for people like me that are excited for this new form factor. I’m currently in “After Q2 2022” for my Steam Deck.

 

Sources

Reddit post with translated GPD article
Original GPD post

My Reddit post discussing GPD’s missteps with the Win 3 and drama in 2021

[aaradorn]

I get it, they basically had a monopoly and it's threatened so they are lashing out, it's a real shame. Hope they can recover because the micro computer market is still booming and GPD could totally go and dominate the retro market, if their prices go down that is. (oh and epic, they could lean in on fortnite)

[Needfuldoer]

How much longer until all the Steam Deck review embargoes are lifted, again?

[Error 52]

There is some truth to the fact that Valve is very intentionally undercutting their competitors here in a way that doesn't really let them fight back - at least as of yet - but boy howdy "If you install Windows you can run pirated games" is certainly a statement to be making.

 

Plus there are torrents out there for a lot of games that come pre-setup with Wine and everything anyway. At least according to my uuuuhhhhhh friend.

[Jaxseven]

15 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

How much longer until all the Steam Deck review embargoes are lifted, again?

February 25th I believe for the software review. The hardware review is technically lifted but what is hardware without software?

[Needfuldoer]

Just now, Jaxseven said:

what is hardware without software?

Sand with ambition.

[Jaxseven]

10 minutes ago, Error 52 said:

There is some truth to the fact that Valve is very intentionally undercutting their competitors here in a way that doesn't really let them fight back - at least as of yet - but boy howdy "If you install Windows you can run pirated games" is certainly a statement to be making.

 

Plus there are torrents out there for a lot of games that come pre-setup with Wine and everything anyway. At least according to my uuuuhhhhhh friend.

I get that it's a scary time to have a much bigger company undercut you but with GPD they do have other product lines to fall back on so it seems silly to me to make such a post. If I was GPD I'd focus on their non-gaming lines while going back to the drawing board to come up with gaming handhelds that satisfy a niche the Steam Deck isn't serving.

 

I also found the pirated games need Windows thing baffling since Wine and Proton exist. Some older games even work better on Linux than Windows.

[Mark Kaine]

#Linux can't piracy.

 

 

That explains everything, hahaha, hilarious.

 

[emosun]

9 minutes ago, Jaxseven said:

what is hardware without software?

Reliable , simple , repairable , affordable , iconic , and beloved

[Mark Kaine]

What gets me is they're actually advertising for Steam deck… i had no real interest in it, but now i suddenly want one lol…

 

[Blademaster91]

Well thats a dumb statement to be making, and Linux can't have pirated games? lol

Also it sounds like GPD is afraid the Steam deck will affect their sales, I think GPD should be selling cheaper handhelds, IMO their products were very overpriced for the hardware you get.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Blademaster91

[Jaxseven]

7 minutes ago, Blademaster91 said:

GPD should be selling cheaper handhelds, IMO their products were very overpriced for the hardware you get.

But even with their GPD XP, their latest and cheapest hardware, it's still underwhelming when compared to the competition such as the Ayn Odin. In my Reddit post about GPD I go over a lot of their quality issues and while I got my Win 3 for comparatively cheap because of the early backer price, I still feel let down in key areas of the product. A number of people had it much worse than me.

[Vishera]

Valve is one of the few corporations that i put my trust in (Alongside with EVGA and Fractal Design)

[Jaxseven]

1 minute ago, Vishera said:

Valve is one of the few corporations that i put my trust in (Alongside with EVGA and Fractal Design)

I have a Valve Index and one of my base stations broke. Contacted support and after describing the situation they quickly got me a replacement base station after I sent them my broken one. The whole ordeal was less than 2 weeks and it was painless. If I have any hardware problems with the Steam Deck I'm pretty confident they'll give their customers the white glove treatment compared to other companies. That is to say if they can keep up with the amount of demand there might be.

[Moonzy]

rip GPD

they make cool devices, but now they're just giving themselves a bad rep

[Fnige]

1 hour ago, Jaxseven said:

not to let you install Windows to play pirated games!

I thought Linux users would be the stereotypical pirates. Not windows

[Kisai]

8 minutes ago, FnigePython said:

I thought Linux users would be the stereotypical pirates. Not windows

Nah. Linux users have a different kind of view on piracy. Linux pirates, only steal self-packed games, that's why all the underpowered garbage marketed as 1000-in-1 game consoles only play stolen software, and have no unique software of their own. That $20 NES-look-a-like plays SNES games, but is so cheaply built that it will break after a few hours.

 

The GPD Win3 is basically the same idea, but for windows. Sure you could play stuff you bought, but these devices were intended to play pirated games. All "game console" shaped things that have no first-party software of their own are. Why would you ever buy the thing except to play pirate games. A desktop or laptop is a far better experience, will last substantially longer, and won't have proprietary parts that you'll never be able to replace when it breaks.

 

At least Nintendo, supports their hardware, for a VERY long time, and are so common you can replace the entire unit. You buy a SteamDeck or a Win3, and you'll be bin'ing it March 30 2025 when the battery dies.

 

[Commodus]

One of the golden rules of marketing: if you spend more energy attacking your competitor than extolling the virtues of your own product... you're really just highlighting your competitor. GPD should spend more time trying to best Valve than stooping to low blows.

 

Apple may have been ragging on Microsoft with its "Get a Mac" ads, but they also outlined what Apple believed it did better, were lighthearted, and certainly didn't represent the company's biggest marketing tool. Well, that and Windows Vista made a pretty strong case for the Mac.

[Jaxseven]

6 minutes ago, Kisai said:

Why would you ever buy the thing except to play pirate games.

 

At least Nintendo, supports their hardware, for a VERY long time, and are so common you can replace the entire unit. You buy a SteamDeck or a Win3, and you'll be bin'ing it March 30 2025 when the battery dies.

 

I bought my Win 3 to play my 1000+ Steam Library on the go in a more convenient method than a laptop. From my experience gaming laptops do not lend themselves well to certain situations like commuting or long hospital stays and for me the latter is a far more common occurrence than for most. I also didn't want to continue buying games for Switch I already own and some Switch ports are just no good. I'm pretty confident Valve would have some service to replace the Steam Deck batteries so I'm sure the device would last longer than 3 years.

[soldier_ph]

Oh GPD is so jealous that they weren't able to build something as awesome as the Steam Deck, lol. 

[Mihle]

1 hour ago, Jaxseven said:

I have a Valve Index and one of my base stations broke. Contacted support and after describing the situation they quickly got me a replacement base station after I sent them my broken one. The whole ordeal was less than 2 weeks and it was painless. If I have any hardware problems with the Steam Deck I'm pretty confident they'll give their customers the white glove treatment compared to other companies. That is to say if they can keep up with the amount of demand there might be.

Sort of funny to me because some years ago, everyone said Valve support for Steam was probably the worst they had ever seen.

It was only Steam and no hardware at that point tho.

[Salv8 (sam)]

oh no a random Chinese company is complaining that a western company is hurting their sales!!!!!!

come on, all they are doing is acting like a fucking child, grow up and accept the fact that you aren't on top anymore.

 

almost every switch like device in this category don't really have the necessary GPU horsepower in order to run more complex 3d games such as The Witcher 3.

less graphically demanding games such as indie titles or older games worked in it's favor since they don't need much but when you bought one of these things you went in knowing that it's not gonna be able to play doom or GTA5 (at least not without modifications to the games)

 

but the deck coming in and fucking over the competition (pun intended) was GOING to happen, regardless if it was valve or someone else. the deck can play more demanding games and it runs linux, valve can tune every part of the device to give the best performance possible out of it. GPD gives the user a guidebook of things to disable and change in windows in order to get some games to run at a barely acceptable FPS.

 

if they had SOMETHING other then intel 'graphics' then they could stay in the running until they come out with a device that can compete with the deck. but they decided not add anything like that and now they will be among the rest of their competitors, existing until their slowed sales forces them to foreclose and they shut up shop.

 

the deck is in a class of it's own, currently the only person to compete with valve is AYA.

the handheld pc wars are going to begin, AYA V.S valve, and just like the console wars of yore, it's gonna be a shitshow. get your umbrella out lads.

(also i bet that the deck is gonna be the new e-celeb item, like how every one of them has a tesla, every one of them is gonna have a deck)

[Middcore]

24 minutes ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

the handheld pc wars are going to begin, AYA V.S valve, and just like the console wars of yore, it's gonna be a shitshow.

 

More like a sideshow. 

[Mark Kaine]

40 minutes ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

also i bet that the deck is gonna be the new e-celeb item, like how every one of them has a tesla, every one of them is gonna have a deck

Yeh, but thing is, its really very niche gaming device, which most likely will be forgotten and discontinued in 2-3 years… Unless its a *huge* succees and by huge i mean 50+ million sold (which I just dont see happening, but you never know)

 

[Jaxseven]

47 minutes ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

almost every switch like device in this category don't really have the necessary GPU horsepower in order to run more complex 3d games such as The Witcher 3.

less graphically demanding games such as indie titles or older games worked in it's favor since they don't need much but when you bought one of these things you went in knowing that it's not gonna be able to play doom or GTA5 (at least not without modifications to the games)

Quick clarification: I can run Doom 2016, Witcher 3, and GTA V on my Win 3 at 20w/out of the box TDP with GTA and Doom at least running 60 FPS on low settings. This is not to defend or champion GPD and the Win 3 but rather to emphasize iGPU are getting really good as AMD's RDNA2 APUs show us. I will still most likely be selling my Win 3 once I can get a Steam Deck.