The Steam Deck is Here to Stay

Valve’s Steam Deck has been making waves in the gaming industry since its release in late 2021. It’s a handheld gaming device that runs on a custom Linux operating system and allows gamers to play their favorite games on the go. However, many users have been wondering if Valve plans on releasing a more powerful version of the Steam Deck anytime soon.

According to a recent interview with Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais, it seems that Valve is in no rush to release a more powerful version of the Steam Deck just yet. Griffais believes that the current Steam Deck has the potential to be a solid target throughout the generation. While Valve does plan to improve the device’s specs in the future, Griffais explains that the work involved is trickier than the typical Deck UX tweaks developers have had to do for games that already perform well.

Valve designer Lawrence Yang also shared his thoughts on the Steam Deck’s longevity, stating that a true next-gen Deck with a significant bump in horsepower wouldn’t be released for a few years. This makes sense, as the Steam Deck has only been out for a little over a year.

Despite this, the Steam Deck has already proven to be a capable gaming device. It can run over 8,000 games spanning indie titles to more hardware-intensive games such as Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077. Throughout its first year of being out in the wild, the Steam Deck has received several updates improving its quality of life. The most recent update enables ray tracing on Doom Eternal and fixes graphical corruption problems in Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and GPU crashes in unspecified upcoming games.

Overall, it seems that Valve is taking a measured approach to the Steam Deck’s future. While they plan to improve the device’s specs in the future, they are not in a rush to release a more powerful version just yet. This is likely a smart move, as the current Steam Deck has already proven to be a capable and popular gaming device. Gamers can continue to enjoy their favorite games on the go with the current Steam Deck while waiting for any potential future upgrades.