Summary
It’s no secret that theSteam Deckhas beenan absolute revolution in the handheld gaming space. Because while many think of handhelds and their associated games as lighter adventures or low-level graphics,the Steam Deck is an absolute beast, fully capable of playing some of the most demanding Triple-A games in the space.
To date,Valve affirms that it’s sold “multiple millions” of its Steam Deck console. That demandeventually led Valve to creating a Steam Deck OLED, which, beyond offering a better screen, also had a more capable battery.
And that’s not even counting all the companies that have stepped up in the time since with their own Steam Deck competitor,like the Asus ROG Ally. Orthe fact that Sony created its own pseudo handheld in the PlayStation Portal, orthat Microsoft is even considering an Xbox handheld to launch alongside its Series X/S successor.
In other words, it’s been more than a revelation for gaming habits. It’s been an industry shifter. But when it comes toreleasing a Steam Deck 2,Valveis playing things a bit more safely compared to the competition.
It Might Be A While Before A Steam Deck 2
As part of a larger interview to commemorate the Steam Deck’s debut in Australia, designer Lawrence Yang spoke with the Australian leg of Reviews.org to explain Valve’s rationale.
“It is important to us, and we’ve tried to be really clear, we are not doing the yearly cadence,” Yang said. “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.”
Valve has always been a very consumer-first company, so it would make sense that it wouldn’t blindside its customers with an immediate successor, particularly as a portion of the world didn’t even have access to the base console.
“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,” Yang added. “But it is something that we’re excited about, and we’re working on.”
In other words, the Steam Deck 2 is actively being developed, but a massive generational leap has to happen first. And even then, if the battery is impacted negatively, then it still won’t be released.
Either way, it’s super refreshing to hear a company come out in front of any rumor with the truth. Valve could’ve played coy about the future of its handheld, but it recognized the rumors, established their validity, but also explained why it would be a bit longer than some would hope. That will undoubtedly help those who may be on the fence about getting a Deck 1.0 make their choice.
