By this point, pretty much anyone with a vague interest in the gaming world will have heard of Valve's upcoming handheld PC, the Steam Deck. With a battery life of around two to eight hours, and a promise that it will be able to handle just about any game in a user's Steam library, it's seemingly taking on the likes of the Nintendo Switch, only with a focus on the PC market. However, it doesn't seem that Valve wants to end it with just this device, as a recent report shows.
Although the Steam Deck has yet to come out, it seems as though Valve is not looking to stop at this one device, or three devices if you count the different SKUs of the Deck. In an interview with PC Gamer, creator Greg Crooner has stated that the company intends to continue making similar devices in this range. While Crooner does not go into detail about what this means, company CEO Gabe Newell feels that the Deck could open up a whole new category for mobile gaming devices.
The intention, it seems, is for the Steam Deck to establish a whole range of portable PC machines. Newell himself, who has been testing out the Deck by paying Dota 2 recently, seems eager for either Valve or other manufacturers to start creating their own handheld gaming PCs, adding that he believes, overall, they will have "long-term benefits" for the gaming community.
In general, what Valve is seemingly hoping to do is to lead the way on this potentially beneficial market. Some have already been lucky enough to test the device, and while the consensus is that it's a great piece of hardware capable of playing current generation games at good frame rates, there have been some concerns. For example, it's possible that the Steam Deck won't be able to run big titles such as Fortnite, due to the fact that the machine's operating system is based on Linux, which many believe that the online game's anti-cheat systems are not compatible with.
As the world waits for the Deck to be released, all ears are to the ground listening for whatever bits of information can be harvested. With word from Valve that it will fully support mods, it's entirely possible that the Deck will indeed pave the way for a market which combines home PC gaming with mobility. Time will tell on that one, but it seems that Gabe and crew are keen for others to follow suit with their own handheld devices.
The Steam Deck is due out this December.
Source: PC Gamer