Well well, perhaps we finally know what the end game is here for the Steam Play Proton compatibility layer and a lot of the other work Valve has been doing for Linux with a possible handheld Steam console. Take this with a heavy pinch of salt as we're into super speculation territory now. UPDATES WILL BE POSTED AT THE BOTTOM.
Pavel Djundik, creator of SteamDB who has often dug up interesting new strings showing up in Steam updates has a new Twitter thread up going over some new appearances that raise some eyebrows.
New appearances are seen mentioning a "Neptune" controller along with things like "GameList_View_NeptuneGames", "SteamPal Games" and more curious entries that mention things like quick access and a power menu - all of which point to something quite a bit more than just a new controller. Not only that, there's also earlier mentions of a "Callisto Developer Program" and "Device Optimized Games" going by what Djundik found.
Recently, Valve's Gabe Newell spoke at Sancta Maria College in Auckland, New Zealand that was highlighted in a since deleted Reddit posts (but you can find the video on the likes of YouTube) where Newell was asked about Steam on consoles to which Newell replied "You’ll get a better idea of that by the end of this year". Initially, we thought that might mean the likes of Half-Life: Alyx on PlayStation VR 2 but now we're not so sure going by this new set of leaks.
It would make sense for such a device to be powered by Linux, so Valve has no licensing fees to deal with and can heavily customize it to their needs. It could easily leverage all the work Valve has put into Linux graphics drivers, Steam Play, perhaps Gamescope and much more that Valve has done for Linux. Perhaps their work on sorting out "new ways for prospective users to get into Linux gaming" and the "live USB media" that we mentioned here were all efforts towards this in some way? Would be a given for it to use an AMD GPU of some kind, considering Valve's investments into the open source Mesa drivers too.
Imagine if "Device Optimized Games" were those specifically ported to Linux to work with this device, that would also work well across desktop Linux with the Steam Linux Runtime dealing with any possibly library incompatibilities. Oh the possibilities. Throw in the idea I recently brought up of a Steam Game Pass…quite exciting.
Then again, it could end up just being a Steam Controller 2 and these optimized games are just setup for it ready. I would be happy with that anyway, not quite as happy as a full Linux-powered handheld Steam console but I do love the Steam Controller. Possibly even something standalone for future VR kits and of course possibly nothing as some leaks turn out. However, with the hints mentioning an "AirplaneMode", that would only be useful for a full handheld.
Bundle a new Valve game with it like they did with the Valve Index and Half-Life: Alyx and you could get plenty of sales.
What are you thoughts on all this?
UPDATE: the website Ars Technica has reportedly spoken to "sources familiar with the matter" who have confirmed it's real and will be Linux-powered. It may even launch by the end of this year. We've reached out to Valve Press to see if they have anything to say about it for us.
Then again, it could end up just being a Steam Controller 2 and these optimized games are just setup for it ready.Yes, please bring me a new Steam Controller. I have no interest in a handheld gaming thing.
Everyone has smartphones that can play games and the switch is everywhere. What kind of minuscule niche would this live in?
If I'm not interested in stupid smartphones and their buttonless controllers? And I don't like Nintendo and its ecosystem?
Then again, it could end up just being a Steam Controller 2 and these optimized games are just setup for it ready.Yes, please bring me a new Steam Controller. I have no interest in a handheld gaming thing.
Everyone has smartphones that can play games and the switch is everywhere. What kind of minuscule niche would this live in?
If I'm not interested in stupid smartphones and their buttonless controllers? And I don't like Nintendo and its ecosystem?
Heard about the Razer Kishi? Makes your smartphone look like a Nintendo Switch. The real problem with smartphones is the screen size... Under 6 inches, it begins to feel quite small, in my experience.
https://www.razer.com/ca-en/mobile-controllers/Razer-Kishi/RZ06-02900100-R3U1
When using Steam Link, I personnally use my Steam Controller with a mobile phone clip for Xbox... It usually works, same form factor:
https://www.powera.com/moga/
Last edited by Mohandevir on 25 May 2021 at 7:26 pm UTC
Reached out to Valve Press but it's still unlikely they will say anything at all until they officially announce it. Either way, stayed tuned to GOL for all the news as usual ;)
Last edited by Liam Dawe on 25 May 2021 at 8:27 pm UTC
I... I might be sold on this.
UPDATE: the website Ars Technica has reportedly spoken to "sources familiar with the matter" who have confirmed it's real and will be Linux-powered.
Paint me hyped!

If they could achieve a successful launch and enter a new console into the market, that *hopefully* would encourage games studios to directly target steam machines and linux natively.
</pipedream>

Something similar to this already happened to the Steam Machines with the Windows vs Linux games situation but Valve have since remedied this with Proton. Going with ARM but not having backwards compatibility with x86 games would be reliving that situation all over again
How many games do you own on steam right now?
Does a bell ring?
780 games. None of which I have any interest in playing on a mobile platform.
I think Valve is pretty adventurous, and I wish them luck, but the probability that this device will outlast Stadia is about 50/50 in my book.
Hopefully, same price range too...

If that's the case, I'm getting my budget ready.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 26 May 2021 at 12:26 am UTC
If this is the final Valve bet on Linux, what will happen to Linux gaming if this will not succeed7
They still need to support their existing Linux customers; it's easier to do that if you have future sales to fund it. The risk of Microsoft cutting them off from Windows customers is still there, and Linux support is something that their competitors don't offer.
So if their new project is a success it might have a virtuous cycle relationship with desktop Linux gaming, but if it's a flop I don't expect anything to get worse on that front.
So you don't think all the investments valve put on Linux gaming were finalized to this (still hypothetical) handheld console?Not really, no. A decade of investment predicated on things that didn't exist at the time, for a product that we don't really know anything about, isn't out yet, and might still be a flop, isn't a great plan.
Microsoft store thing never convinced me too much.
Microsoft muscling them out of Windows would be an existential threat to them, even if the probability is low; having an escape plan, and visibly having an escape plan as leverage, is in Valve's interest. It doesn't cost much, and their work on it is probably sufficiently supported by Linux sales even with our small market share (if not, they're getting money elsewhere); open source development is incremental, so they can add bits as and when, so they don't have to go all in at once, and it lets them do things that they couldn't do otherwise (they can't change Windows' shader compiler, for example); and I expect that the work is interesting in itself for their engineers.
I'd imagine that they thought they'd come up with something, and success of a handheld console and success of desktop Linux would be mutually reinforcing if it happens, but I don't think they were driven by this as a Grand Plan, no.
Small improvements to help more people buy more games is entirely how they approach things. This could be one of them. Or it could be a massive hit, or it could be a massive flop. Whatever happens, Steam is trucking on with minimal risk. And they'd still need to support existing Linux customers, which is easier if Linux customers keep giving you money than if they don't.
A) Valve needs to build them themselves.
B) They need to actually sell them to those who want to buy them. Even if they live outside the US!
If not, then DOA.
The Steam Controller and Link was teasing people on Steam for ever, with approximately zero ways of actually buying one most places in the word (e.g. in Norway), except buy if off Ebay. Which, incidentally, is where my Steam Controller comes from.
If so, thenYeah. Luckily, since the Steam Machine thing Valve have gotten a bit more experience with hardware, like the VR stuff. So they should have more capacity to make this themselves than they would have to try to make Steam Machines themselves.
A) Valve needs to build them themselves.
Answering with some thoughts of my own :)the issue is, they dont have to work for us, they have to work for the "average joe", otherwise nothing will change in terms of market share and thirdy party support.
Well, Steam Machines failed for so many reasons. If this is a device built by Valve, and there's only one (or 1-2 configs?). I can see it doing a lot better with the state of Linux now.
and i dont think the average joe would give a second chance to valve, imagine knowing the disaster it was the last time and beting your money at it?
we may be willing to do, but we dont count, there are a lot of fanboys on the linux comunity or people who just want to support the cause, but it will be worthless if the average dont purchase then.
sure, maybe we will be able to game on the go, but we already can do that with the likes of GFN and stadia, so its at the point of diminishing returns.
That does bring up a good point but if Valve only supported some form of Linux on it, more might keep it that way. Either way, it would be a boost to Linux gaming if the main way to use it is with let's say SteamOS 3.0.on the other hand, if that fail they might give up...
As I mentioned in a prev comment, given the success of other devices, I wouldn't just count the idea out. As long as this time around, Valve market it correctly and properly.after they did 0 market the last time i wont hold my breath for that thing, i'm tired of creating fake hopes to be burned right after.
i had hopes when my government and many others arround the world tried to push linux, but they failed.
i had hopes when google tried to push chromeOS, but it failed.
i had hopes when valve tried to push SteamOS and Steam Machines, but it failed.
why should i lie to my self again?
i had hopes for android, it is an sucess but we dont count that as linux for some reason and it proved that the comunity was wrong in a lot of things that they said that would happen if linux became mainstream (like not having virus)
i had hopes that i could do my part in convincing a lot of people to use linux, but i was not able to convince anyone and as the time pass i started to realize how many things i had to give up in order to use linux (i got to know more games that i wanted to play that i cant and some were online games that dont exist anymore so i lost the oportunity forever not to mention softwares that would make my life easier or open new possibilities of things to do.)
so nowadays i cant convince myself to keep using it, its at the point of diminishing returns and the only reason why i dont go back to windows is the work is because it would be a lot of trouble backuping/formating/reinstaling everything.
honestly i think the main issue of linux was never conving people to give it a chance, but to convince then to stick arround for enough time to see the marketshare grow, many people on my country used linux when it was not ready for the mass adoption, so the reason why they dont use linux is not because they dont know about it but because they do and had an bad impression on it (wich is even worse, first impresion=last impression)
now, an gaming console could be an game changer, bsd has 0 games but playstation that is based on bsd has all the most relevant games of an entire generation, they just dont share this sucess with the bsd desktop¹, if an linux console sell like an switch or playstation it could change forever the situation of linux in both in terms of support for both new games and old games and finally the desktop gain some marketshare as result of this sucess...
but i think its too litle to late, honestly i think the only chance that we had was if we had fought against microsoft before they had stabilished total dominance and had won the fight even if that meant writing proprietary code, its better to dominate the market with some proprietary solution then open soruce it, than let some one else dominate the market someone who dont plan to open source it ever.
its too late now, the windows ecosystem has become an monster we just arent aware of the extension of the problem.
we say things like "gimp can replace photoshop" but photoshop has an ecosystem of add'ons bigger that can be compared to the ecosystem of thirdy party apps that windows have, not to mention that windows has acess to both photoshop and gimp.
we are satisfied of just being able to play an game, while on windows people are moding then to make their own levels and stuff with thirdy party tools that might not work on linux.
we have "hackers" that make wine, but we ignore that windows have "hackers" that do revere enginering on this ecosystem to make those mod tools.
people look at protondb and think that 80% of steam games run on linux, but i saw some games rated as platinum (works perfectly) that were missing basic features like sound effects, so protondb isnt realiable at all, people need to know an game to do Q/A and that is not the case for the submissions on protondb (even the small white list from valve isnt perfect there were bug fixes for nier automata runing on proton after they withe lited it) not to mention that the comunity effort isnt enogu to even test all the steam games, let alone do an proper q/a of then to make sure they work.
¹(the same can be said about runing android apps on linux, sure you can use an emulator but you might as well emulate on windows at this point , with better emulators)
As for the price of the device. They'd have to sell it for close to cost or at a loss to compete with the Switch.
Last edited by Philadelphus on 7 Jun 2021 at 8:16 am UTC
See more from me