I thought the same for a long time. I had a gaming PC, I had my Switch (or earlier Nintendo consoles), I was covered. Eventually my gaming PC reached the end of the road (15+ years, minor upgrades along the way.) I was happy enough without it so I decided against building a new gaming PC.
Then Baldur’s Gate 3 was announced. I knew I’d need a new gaming PC to play it. Of course alternatives like Stadia showed up at that time, but we know how that story ends, and it ends before BG3 came out.
Steam Deck truly is a savior. I can play the latest games. I can play my old games. I can emulate games.
Plus unlike Android it feels like a Linux machine underneath. I don’t say that to shame Android, but I don’t feel like I own the device. I can customize a lot, but I’m just a user. But the Steam Deck? I can open the hood if I like and it’s a Linux machine with a built in touch screen and controller. It’s my PC.
In some ways the Board being the same is a good thing, since it means they remember that they can’t try to pull this shit again.
Of course it also means they had (or supported) the stupid idea, so they’ll probably try to pull something similar again.
Really no matter what it means keep an extra eye on Unity. When it comes time to evaluate engines this incident should always show up on the con side.