It may appear unusual to employ hardware designed for exploring Cyberpunk 2077’s Night City or swinging lightsabers in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor for genuine military objectives, but it’s actually quite practical. The Steam Deck may be a little pricy for the typical customer, ranging from $399 to over $600 at its most expensive, but it’s pennies for military equipment, since each military drone now used by both Ukrainian and Russian troops may cost upwards of $1 million.
In addition, unlike its primary handheld competitor, the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck is extensively configurable. It runs Linux natively, giving anyone who wants to use it for purposes other than what Valve has built it to do a wide range of options, and any player with a desire can even install Windows on their Steam Deck. So it’s far from an illegal use of video game technology in an age when militaries are increasingly using video games to train soldiers and simulate potential combat scenarios.
