Valve recently introduced the Steam Deck OLED, an improved version of its gaming handheld. But there are clear statements from Valve about the potential successor, Steam Deck 2. It is not expected before the end of 2025.
In an interview with The Verge ahead of the OLED model unveiling, Pierre-Loup Griffis, a developer at Valve, explained that a Steam Deck 2 has yet to happen. By late 2025 or even 2026 may appear. For Valve, the decision to release a new handheld depends on a noticeable increase in performance, without significantly affecting battery life.
Valve is waiting for a significantly better chip
Lawrence Young, Valve’s UX designer, added in a recent interview with Gizmodo that a true successor is in the works. Generational leap in performance Of course, he highlighted the “switching costs” that will be associated with changing specs on future Steam decks.
We want to make a proper successor to Steam Deck, but a lot of it is bound by performance. For us to call Steam Deck 2, there must be a generational increase in performance. If you have a lot of different Steam decks that are maybe 10% or 30% better, it becomes hard for developers to target those performances.
Lawrence Young, Valve
According to Yang, the team is closely monitoring and anticipating the progress of the chip market and technologyTwo or three years “There will be a chip we can use for Steam Deck 2.”
Regarding criticism of the original Steam deck, Yang said that the list of criticisms “consistent with our list of things we wanted.” Steam Deck had to make some compromises in its design due to time, cost and supply chain issues.
LCD models are greatly reduced
Valve confirms that there will be no Steam Deck 2 for the next two to three years. In the meantime, the company will continue to support Steam Deck OLED and Steam Deck LCD with updates The OLED model will be available from November 16th, but Valve is currently offering the LCD model at a significantly lower price.
However, if you want more performance on the go, you should take a closer look at an Asus ROG Ally (review) or Lenovo Legion Go. The first handhelds with the new Zen 4c core may also appear in 2024. But the jump in performance probably won’t be big enough for Valve.
formula
For reasons of better readability, masculine, feminine and different language forms (m/f/d) are not used at the same time. All personal names apply equally to all genders.