The deck is only successful because Valve is already successful enough to take the first loss on a console
This may be true(and I wouldn't doubt it being the case, at least on the $399 model) but it's pure speculation on your part.
There are a dozen consoles like the Steam deck that didn't have the impact that Steam had. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_handheld_game_consoles It's not pure speculation. It's certainly backed by history. Playstation is the other company that tried this and was big enough to release 2 iterations of a failed handheld that was very good on all accounts.
I was only talking about your claim that they're selling at a loss, nothing about success or not.
We don't know their BOM so its speculation that they're taking a loss. (Unless I misunderstood your claim)
Sorry, I mean the overall loss. Not selling at a loss from a manufacturing point but a loss on the development and research of a console. They spent years just designing and building prototypes of the Steam Deck. It is an assumption but I think a fair one to say that they've yet to make their money back from those costs to break into the console industry.
This may be true(and I wouldn't doubt it being the case, at least on the $399 model) but it's pure speculation on your part.
There are a dozen consoles like the Steam deck that didn't have the impact that Steam had. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_handheld_game_consoles It's not pure speculation. It's certainly backed by history. Playstation is the other company that tried this and was big enough to release 2 iterations of a failed handheld that was very good on all accounts.
I was only talking about your claim that they're selling at a loss, nothing about success or not.
We don't know their BOM so its speculation that they're taking a loss. (Unless I misunderstood your claim)
Sorry, I mean the overall loss. Not selling at a loss from a manufacturing point but a loss on the development and research of a console. They spent years just designing and building prototypes of the Steam Deck. It is an assumption but I think a fair one to say that they've yet to make their money back from those costs to break into the console industry.