For over two ten , the video game globe has revolve around three companies : Nintendo , Sony , and Microsoft . These platform holders have long control the conversation around games , with their console and trashy exclusives creating the theoretical account for how we sympathise the business today . It ’s not that these were the only companies distributing games , as any PC instrumentalist will tell you ; it ’s just that they had become the foundational power players that the rest of the industry often had to conform around .
We ’ve seen cracks in that dynamic during this current console contemporaries , but Valve may have shattered it for good . DuringCES 2025 , the company made some big plays of its own that solidified its grow clench on gaming outdoors of Steam . In add-on to bring SteamOS to theLegion Go S , Valve tellsThe Vergethat it will soon permit players add the Steam Deck ’s signature tune user interface on any handheld .
That may sound like a small move , but it ’s the last piece of a long - building perturbation that leaves the so - called “ braggart three ” in the the rearview mirror . Whether you ’re a PC or console gamer , it ’s Steam ’s world now . Everyone else is just hold out in it .
Head of the table
For many PC players , this is n’t a unexampled growth . Steam has always beentheplace to corrupt and roleplay game thanks to a unified depository library that worked across PCs . The realism , though , is that personal computer and console play have long been separate worlds . Valve ’s byplay was primarily being a digital shopfront ; Sony , Microsoft , and Nintendo ’s ambition were more headline - grabbing by comparing . Their exclusive game dominate award display . Games needed to be built with the power ( and limitations ) of PlayStation and Xbox twist in mind . More important than any of that was the mode those company create modus vivendi brands that all vie to produce the most sensible home base for a histrion with too many options .
Sony , Microsoft , and Nintendo have all claim different approaches over the age to hold their social position , with Valve struggling to quite meet them in the same field . It tried to use up into that dynamic at times with shaky experiment like the ill - doom Steam Machine , but those failure made it clear that PC and console gaming were just too different . Steam would always be assure as its own worldly concern , albeit an enormous one .
That has speedily changed in the last few years thanks in no small part to theSteam Deck . The handheld has essentially changed the gaming hardware space in a way that reaches beyond PC gaming . It bridged the break between worlds , giving console table players an approachable entry point into the PC space that still felt familiar . That move led to a passel of ape early on , but the trend is here to stay . At CES 2025 , we saw another wave of promising competitors coiffure to make the hand-held PC securities industry as central to gaming as home consoles .
All of this help Valve leap over one of the big three : Nintendo . The Steam Deck took the Switch ’s lightning - in - a - bottle idea and one - upped it by making a more powerful alternative that can run more game . Nintendo ’s unbeatable advantage will always be its first - party games , but theSwitch 2 — a machine rumour to be a fairly short advance over its predecessor — does n’t quite feel like it ’ll be as culturally dominant as the Switch was in 2017 . Even an old Steam Deck might remain the more impressive choice when it come to specification .
It ’s Steam ’s novel initiative to spread out SteamOS that stand to make it the centrepiece of the video game world , though . The mind is that player will no longer need to own a Steam Deck to gain from Valve ’s ecosystem . before long , any handheld will be a Steam Deck , whether it be an Asus ROG Ally , Legion Go , orMSI Claw . Theoretically , evenXbox ’s long - rumor handheldcould be most useful as a powerful manner to negociate Steam games . PC partisan have long fence that purchasing game on Steam was always the right call , but Valve ’s latest move codifies that into law . Why buy a game on PS5 when you’re able to get it on Steam and have access to it on any number of devices ?
That mind is one that both Sony and Microsoft have been urgently chasing this console generation . Both company have fought to make the ultimate gaming ecosystem that makes their platform the variety of thing that ’s hard to detach from , like an Apple user operate in due to their iPhone choice . PlayStation test to get at this with tech like thePlayStation Portalor its PlayStation Link audio technical school . Xbox more effectively chipped into the idea with Game Pass , a service that aim to twist every gadget into an Xbox ( a merchandising move that spawned the blade ’s controversial “ This is an Xbox ” advert campaign ) . Microsoft wanted to achieve top - dog status by putting Game Pass onyour bright TV , phone , PC , Amazon Fire Stick , and more . The last four year has been a race of which ship’s company could become the more inescapable lifestyle brand .
In only a few years , Valve has come forth from the shadows to beat all three companies at their own strategies . It now runs the handheld market place , even on its competitors gadget , and has successfully snap the coveted gaming ecosystem . Even third - party studio like Square Enix are starting tochange their tune about exclusivityas they see the value in releasing on PC alongside consoles .
That does n’t think that Sony , Microsoft , or Nintendo are going away . On the reverse , each will be crucial to create the more unified futurity of console and PC gaming . Sony launchingHelldivers 2on personal computer to great success bear witness that both worlds will gain from run nice with one another , and I think we ’ll only see that trend grow . The only dispute is that Valve is now setting the model that everyone else needs to espouse . Steam now sit at the school principal of the tabular array .
