You can purchase the game in a web browser and use steamcmd, which (one could argue is still requiring an app) to download and install. In cases where the publisher is not invoking DRM (Larian games like BG3, DoS2, etc. for instance) once the game is downloaded you can certainly archive it and transfer it to another machine and run it there without Steam. In the end you are likely purchasing proprietary software (though again it’s not always the case on Steam) and we could say you don’t really own that either, so maybe take your complaints to the publishers or just use the power of your wallet and not buy those games and support libre games, of which there are many, another way. That said, Valve is actively making things better for users by developing and contributing to useful libre software like Proton (WINE, DXVK, etc) that can work outside of Steam.

Almost easier to set up a share or ssh on the pc and use an easily installed app like Ghost Commander to connect and transfer.

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This makes more sense when coupled with AR glasses (Xreal, Viture, etc) especially when riding in a plane or car for a long trip. With DEX at least, your phone becomes a track pad, but without a typing device it’s a bit limited. Unfortunately many android apps don’t translate well to landscape mode.

In the end you are still at the mercy of their shareholders and their core mission of EEE over end-user empowerment. Every thing they build is designed with lock-in and obfuscation to protect themselves.

Sadly that’s mostly true, but that may have more to do with devs lack of experience with Linux in general. Often they would have to outsource the port to Aspyr or another team.

Hmm something about this has me fantasizing about a phone sized deck. But considering Valves development of VR and this development, I think they are going to tap into the android based VR dev pool for porting titles to an official Android on Steam platform.

Gee the Steamdeck lets people play nearly every game they or their parents played including their 20 year old Steam library. Nintendo could make a handheld console to do the same thing, but they wont. Good luck. When the Switch came out it was something unique, but the rest of the world makes handheld consoles with far more to offer. I think they should take note of how Sony has leveraged Steam and start releasing games on other platforms. Arguably Nintendo’s greatest strength is their software and it’s their hardware that is its weakness more than ever.