If you’re familiar with the name EmuDeck, you’re likely a Steam Deck owner looking for an easy and user-friendly way to run emulators on your Steam Deck handheld. Now, one of the coders behind that software suite is dipping their toes into branded gaming hardware with the EmuDeck Machines project, now seeking funding on IndieGogo.
The EmuDeck Machines obviously come with EmuDeck software preinstalled to let users easily “play your retro games from your couch.” But they also promise to let you run games from Steam and other popular PC launchers through the Linux-based, gaming-focused Bazzite OS. The vibe is definitely similar to that of Valve’s own aborted Steam Machines effort from years back, albeit in a less “official” capacity.
“The idea behind the EmuDeck Machine is to make hardware easy just as EmuDeck did with software,” project lead DragoonDorise writes on the EmuDeck Patreon. “This is not focused to tech savvy people. It’s for people that want a no-hassle experience, just buy and play,” they added on Reddit.
“Getting a new PC can be a hurdle if you’re not tech-savvy,” DragoonDorise told Overkill in an interview. “I’ve been using an ITX build as my gaming rig for so long, trying to find that console-like experience. Now we can get that with Bazzite.”
What’s inside?
The EmuDeck Machines come in two promised configurations. On the low-end EM1 model, a $365 early bird price gets you an Intel N97-based system with 8GB of RAM and no dedicated graphics card. That’s enough to run a game on the order of Hades at a smooth 60 fps and run emulators of systems through the PS2/Wii era.
Upgrading to the $676 EM2 gets you an overclocked Radeon 760M GPU and an upgrade to 16GB of RAM. That promises smooth gaming performance for high-end games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Returnal, according to DragoonDorise, as well as support for PS3 and Xbox 360 emulators. If the Indiegogo project is fully funded, DragoonDorise also promises an optional Docking Station will be made available next year to provide “Radeon 7600” graphics power to the EM2.
Both models come with 512 GB of storage, which can be upgraded with external USB hard drives and a Gamesir wireless controller. It all comes packaged in an 8.6-inch square case that’s clearly inspired by the Sega Dreamcast, with four USB ports where the usual controller ports would be.
Caveat emptor
Though DragoonDorise says it currently only has a “working prototype” of the EmuDeck Machines, the IndieGogo project promises an ambitious schedule where hardware will be shipping by December. “Most of it is off the self [sic] components,” they write in the EmuDeck Patreon comments. “I used to run an online store back in the day. I do have some experience.”
Overall, though, DragoonDorise’s comments make the EmuDeck Machines effort sound more like a fun hobby than an attempt at an ongoing business. “I built a mini ITX PC… and I thought, ‘Hey this is cool, let’s do this,'” they wrote on Reddit. “I’ve always dream[ed] of making a video console, so this it,” they continued in another comment.
As of this writing, the EmuDeck Machines effort has attracted nearly $13,000 in pledges in just under 24 hours. But DragoonDorise writes on Reddit that they only “make 50 bucks on both models,” and that they’re “not trying to get rich here with this, I’m not even expecting to make money. I’m doing this because I think [it] is a fun project and I thought people would like it.”
In the Patreon comments, DragoonDorise adds that they tried to make the machines affordable for customers, but that “Indiegogo takes a big cut… they are going to make more money than I will.”
For fans of the EmuDeck software, DragoonDorise also promises on Patreon that work on EmuDeck Machines hardware “doesn’t mean things will change on the software side of EmuDeck, if anything it will bring more features.” In fact, features like CloudSync, ROM Library, and the EmuDecky plugin were added to EmuDeck “because I envisioned the EmuDeck Machine with those features so many months ago,” they write, “and those have ended up being in the regular EmuDeck for every one of you.”
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