Oliver Cragg / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais took part in an interview to reveal what’s in store for the handheld gaming PC.
- The designers confirmed there are plans for a next-gen Steam Deck, but a “Pro” model is unlikely, for now.
- The two also say the Steam Deck may never be “stable” like a traditional console, Valve wants to make another Steam controller, and more.
It’s hard to believe, but it’s been nearly 11 months since the Steam Deck was released. Although the impressive handheld gaming PC isn’t that old yet, many have wondered if the system would get a next-gen follow-up. We now have the answer to that and a few other questions.
Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais participated in an interview with The Verge. During the interview, the designers confirmed that there will be a Steam Deck 2, describing the handheld as a “multi-generational product.”
This actually isn’t the first time Valve has mentioned a Steam Deck successor. Back in September, members of Valve spoke with Weekly Famitsu magazine. During the interview, designer Greg Coomer unexpectedly revealed: “there will be a next generation of Steam Deck products in the future.”
Something that comes as a surprise, however, is that Griffais spoke briefly about the chances of Valve creating a Steam Deck Pro.
Right now the fact that all the Steam Decks can play the same games and that we have one target for users to understand what kind of performance level to expect when you’re playing and for developers to understand what to target… there’s a lot of value in having that one spec. I think we’ll opt to keep the one performance level for a little bit longer, and only look at changing the performance level when there is a significant gain to be had.
Based on the quote, it appears that, for now, the company has no plans to develop a “Pro” model. At the same time, Griffais didn’t necessarily shut the door on the idea either.
As for the current Steam Deck, Yang and Griffais explained what to expect in the future. One revelation was that the Steam Deck may never be “stable.” “I don’t think you should expect that,” said Graffais. “Stable in terms of having a great experience for people? Yeah, absolutely. But I think we are always going to be pushing updates as long as there’s people playing.”
Another reveal is that Valve is looking at hardware tweaks. An example of one of the tweaks Valve has been doing is making adjustments to the fan. Valve is also reportedly making it easier to replace the battery. And down the road, the company wants to improve the feel of the Steam and Quick Access button.
On the software side, Griffais says that they are working on fixing the Bluetooth audio lag, adding an audio mixer, and possibly letting users share per-game power profiles.
Outside of the Steam Deck, it was revealed that Valve wants to make a Steam Controller 2.
I think it’s likely that we’ll explore that because it’s something we wanted as well. Right now, we’re focusing on the Deck, so it’s a little bit of the same thing as the microconsole question: it’s definitely something where we’d be excited to work with a third-party or explore ourselves.
In an industry full of companies that prefer to hold all of their cards close to their chest, Valve’s openness about Steam Deck is a breath of fresh air. But what do you think about the future of Steam Deck that Valve envisions? Let us know in the comments below.
