We’re just a few months shy of Valve’s Steam Deck turning four years old, but the Steam owner doesn’t look like it’s going to wind down support any time soon. In fact, it might be listening to feedback more than ever, as one of the most requested features for the handheld gaming PC is finally being added soon.
One of the weirdest quirks with the Steam Deck is the requirement to have the handheld’s display on to download games. You weren’t able to put the PC into sleep mode to conserve battery while downloading a new game, which is especially irritating for large downloads and those using the burn-in prone Steam Deck OLED. Valve seemingly has finally acknowledged that this is silly, and has introduced the ability to download games in a new power-saving mode in a new Steam Deck update.
Available in preview before going live to all Steam Deck users, the new mode is automatically enabled when you plug your handheld into power. While a game is downloading, the screen will automatically turn off and continue in the background, with a new information screen showing progress being displayed if you move the handheld briefly or press a button.
The same mode can be enabled in the settings menu for when the Steam Deck is running off its battery, with Valve optimistic that this low-power mode will conserve as much as possible. If the battery depletes to 20%, the Steam Deck will automatically go into sleep mode and pause any active downloads.
Valve has remained coy on a successor to the Steam Deck despite its age, with reports suggesting that a new, upgraded model might only arrive in 2027. In the meantime, ASUS and Microsoft have recently launched the ROG Xbox Ally X with AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip that offers improved performance over most other handheld gaming PC’s on the market, albeit with some compromises. You can read our full ROG Xbox Ally impressions here.
