Looking to the future: Speculation about a successor to the Steam Deck has been swirling ever since Valve launched its laptop. The company gave the strongest confirmation yet this week that it plans to follow up on its wearable hardware, but didn’t say when.
On Thursday, Valve released a Steam Deck booklet that discusses the company’s plans for future releases of the device. He didn’t provide many details, but Valve doesn’t stop at just one Deck.
Valve wrote the marketing booklet to explain the design goals of the company and Steam Deck to audiences in Asian territories like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. It contains a concise description of Valve, Steam, and the Steam Deck for an audience who may be less familiar with them. It is available for download in English, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
The last page looks to the future, calling the Steam Deck “a cross-generational product line.” Valve explicitly confirms rumors of Steam Deck successors that surfaced earlier this year. The company plans to improve hardware and software in future iterations while ensuring that subsequent Steam Decks can still access the same software and games as the inaugural unit.
“Steam Deck represents the first in a new category of portable Steam gaming PCs. Going forward, Valve will follow this product with hardware and software improvements and iterations, bringing new versions of Steam Deck to market. Like the original, and like all PCs, these future products will continue to provide access to the same catalog of Steam games that gamers already know and love. »
In March, Valve boss Gabe Newell said he interpreted the success of the Steam Deck’s most expensive model as evidence that customers were interested in higher-end versions. He also expressed hope for VR capability in a future model.
Rumors in June suggested that AMD is working on an APU that could be the successor to Steam Deck’s “Van Goh” processor. It would offer faster RAM and efficiency gains thanks to AMD’s upcoming RDNA 3 GPU architecture. Chip information suggests a release in late 2023 or later, which is fine. The current Steam Deck is far from meeting its demand, so Valve is unlikely to replace it anytime soon.
The Steam Deck isn’t the only or first portable gaming PC, though its popularity may have stirred the fledgling industry. GamePad Digital (GPD) recently unveiled two new models in its Win series: the GPD Win Max 2, which looks like a mini laptop with analog sticks, and the GPD Win 4, which looks more like a Sony PSP with a keyboard. . The Max 2 features some of the same chips as the Steam Deck but is a little more robust. It could eventually support Valve’s Steam operating system. Other options like the Ayaneo 2 and the AYN Loki Zero have also emerged.
Aside from handheld units, Valve also reiterated plans to push Steam Deck improvements to traditional PCs. Its user interface will form the basis of a new version of Steam’s Big Picture mode. Soon, Chromebooks will also be able to play games using a compatibility layer derived from Steam Deck.