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Valve gave us the strongest wording yet that a Steam Deck 2 is actually real, although it's still clearly going to be some time away before there's enough of an upgrade.

Recently we had the news that the Steam Deck is finally going to release in Australia, and so now Valve have another market opened up for future hardware launches. So, a few Australian websites managed to get Valve to open up a little to discuss the future and it's sounding good.

Speaking to Reviews.org Australia here's what Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang said about a Steam Deck 2:

It is important to us, and we’ve tried to be really clear, we are not doing the yearly cadence. We’re not going to do a bump every year. There’s no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that’s kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that’s only incrementally better. So we really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck. But it is something that we’re excited about and we’re working on.

Also mentioned in the interview is how they really love seeing all the devices from other companies, even if they're not a fan of the constant device refreshes. There's plenty of other good stuff mentioned in the full interview so be sure to go give it a read.

It's not exactly the freshest news though if you've been following along, since I previously covered Valve's little handbook for the Asia launch, that did make it seem pretty clearly like more was planned. Still, Valve reiterating it so strongly is a great sign.

Until then we've still got plenty to look forward to like the final release of SteamOS 3.6 (it's in Beta) which will bring another big lot of system improvements. And, whatever this ARM64 and Android stuff is for (likely a new VR set).

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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32 comments
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tmtvl Oct 16
Valve I beg you make Steam Controller 2

Now that's something I can get behind 100%. If Valve sold a controller that was more or less the Deck without screen I'd buy 3: 1 to use, 1 for multiplayer, and 1 for safe keeping.
hardpenguin Oct 16
(..) Steam Controller 2

Now that's something I can get behind 100%. If Valve sold a controller that was more or less the Deck without screen I'd buy 3: 1 to use, 1 for multiplayer, and 1 for safe keeping.
There is an ongoing discussion on Reddit about such solution, so called Deck Controller. Many of us would prefer just a Steam Controller revival because each of those solutions has its upsides and downsides. For example, SC is arguably more comfortable and effective to use than Deck for power users like myself that focus on the touchpad. That said, I would be definitely willing to give Deck Controller a go as well!
DrNick Oct 16
One of the things I like about the Steam Deck is that it's stable and receives long-term support.
I've had a handful of other machines and view them as high-end sports cars to Valve's baseline pickup truck. (a car analogy!)
Claude_Lib Oct 16
What I really like about Deck and what competition doesn't seem to get is the solid hardware base. The game developers only have one device to optimize their games for instead of countless Ultra Turbo Deluxe revisions. About the only thing I like about consoles over PC and what I liked about Apple before they too started releasing X Pro Max models every year, heavily fragmenting the hardware lineup.


Last edited by Claude_Lib on 16 October 2024 at 10:24 am UTC
mindedie Oct 16
Forget about power, I just want a Steam Deck Pocket. One that fits in my pocket.
So... need line of "VALVE" chips. 3 ofc.
1st: Sub 10W, 1-5W or something for SteamPalm/Pocket/Pouch.
2nd: Chip for SteamDeck 2, generation leap? from barely 30fps to solid 60fps same game same power consumption.
3rd: 60-180W for SteamConsole or for those who constantly droning about 144Hz and 4K, SD-PPS (Portable Power Station edition aka always in the wall socket).
Mohandevir Oct 16
(..) Steam Controller 2

Now that's something I can get behind 100%. If Valve sold a controller that was more or less the Deck without screen I'd buy 3: 1 to use, 1 for multiplayer, and 1 for safe keeping.
There is an ongoing discussion on Reddit about such solution, so called Deck Controller. Many of us would prefer just a Steam Controller revival because each of those solutions has its upsides and downsides. For example, SC is arguably more comfortable and effective to use than Deck for power users like myself that focus on the touchpad. That said, I would be definitely willing to give Deck Controller a go as well!

Talking about the Steam Controller... I did some troubleshooting with my Steam Link hardware vs Steam link app on Nvidia Shield... I connected my 8bitdo Ultimate 2C with the 2.4ghz dongle, on the Steam Link hardware (works perfectly, even the rumble works)... I wanted to sync my SC via Bluetooth and pushed the wrong button combo (Steam + A)... My SC synced itself to the 8bitdo dongle and is working properly... Whaaaat?!

Sorry, not really on topic, but I had to share it.


Last edited by Mohandevir on 16 October 2024 at 1:24 pm UTC
Caldathras Oct 16
Forget about power, I just want a Steam Deck Pocket. One that fits in my pocket.
So... need line of "VALVE" chips. 3 ofc.
1st: Sub 10W, 1-5W or something for SteamPalm/Pocket/Pouch.
2nd: Chip for SteamDeck 2, generation leap? from barely 30fps to solid 60fps same game same power consumption.
3rd: 60-180W for SteamConsole or for those who constantly droning about 144Hz and 4K, SD-PPS (Portable Power Station edition aka always in the wall socket).
What about a Steam Book, a Steam Deck with the form factor of a 15.6" laptop? Could even throw in a Steam Controller or an actualized Deck Controller as an included accessory. I'd take that over a SteamConsole any day.

Don't much care about 144Hz and 4K myself. I rarely play games at my laptop's native resolution (1080p) any way. 720p or 810p are good enough for me. Better performance that way.
Caldathras Oct 16
The last "generational leap" I experienced was when micros went from 8 bit to 16 bit. We went from C64, ZX Spectrum etc. to Amiga, Atari ST.

Ever since then it has been mild increments at best.
You don't consider 16-bit to 32-bit or 32-bit to 64-bit to be "generational leaps"?

Granted, the basic hardware infrastructure did not change so obviously and the UI change may not have seemed that significant but the changes under the hood were not what I would consider mild.
melkemind Oct 16
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We've seen generational leaps in GPU and CPU technology, but they are obviously not efficient enough to run in handhelds. What I would really like to see is a generational leap in battery technology. Once someone creates batteries that can significantly increase play time without sacrificing power, they will have cracked the sacred code.
missingno Oct 16
What I really like about Deck and what competition doesn't seem to get is the solid hardware base. The game developers only have one device to optimize their games for instead of countless Ultra Turbo Deluxe revisions. About the only thing I like about consoles over PC and what I liked about Apple before they too started releasing X Pro Max models every year, heavily fragmenting the hardware lineup.
Optimizing games for just one target hardware spec hasn't been the norm in a very long time. Everything is multiplat. And everything that's on PC has to run on a wide range of PCs.
hardpenguin Oct 17
Talking about the Steam Controller... I did some troubleshooting with my Steam Link hardware vs Steam link app on Nvidia Shield... I connected my 8bitdo Ultimate 2C with the 2.4ghz dongle, on the Steam Link hardware (works perfectly, even the rumble works)... I wanted to sync my SC via Bluetooth and pushed the wrong button combo (Steam + A)... My SC synced itself to the 8bitdo dongle and is working properly... Whaaaat?!

Sorry, not really on topic, but I had to share it.
That's.... Unexpected 😳
Marlock Oct 19
So here's the thing... as long as Valve keeps the original Steam Deck around, it's a baseline hardware target for games to optimize against.

Any more powerful hardware released after that (and any custom built PCs and any miniPCs and any laptops with comparable hardware or better) will enjoy "even better" performance, higher graphics settings, etc... and will benefit from the baseline being low.

The minute Valve releases Steam Deck 2 there is a truckload of devs that will no longer try to get their games optimized for the original Steam Deck, only the new model, because it's so much easier.

Valve created an optional but very enticing target for PC gaming devs, instead of red-taping their store in mandatory norms and contracts like consoles do. They can't pull the rug under PC game devs and start forcing stuff onto them, so this was areally smart move and probably the only viable move to manouver PC game devs into compliance without a fight they couldn't win. It's an uber-carrot without a stick.


Last edited by Marlock on 19 October 2024 at 11:22 pm UTC
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