Valve's upcoming handheld PC, the Steam Deck, is receiving a lot of attention from both the media and the gaming community. Even Xbox's Phil Spencer has praised the Deck, speaking highly of its screen size, the feel of the controls, and how well some of the games run on it. As if the device needed any more coverage, the company has now gone ahead and published an official advertisement for it.
Uploading the video to its YouTube channel recently, the ad is clearly intended to push the Steam Deck in ways other than through interviews with journalists. It's a short ad, lasting just over a minute, but contains the majority of the basic information, certainly enough to give the general viewer an overall insight into what the device is, as well as what it's capable of.
While it does give a basic overview of the handheld system, such as the controls and touchscreen, it doesn't go into great detail about the specs of the Steam Deck. Again, this is likely due to it being a short video aimed at the general public. The ad introduces it as the most "powerful gaming handheld in the world" which is quite a claim. Given that it's essentially a mobile PC, and play tests from third parties suggests it is capable of running current gen games at high frame rates, it's entirely possible that the Deck could be the most powerful handheld system.
The fact that the ad also says the Deck has a focus on mobile gaming ties in with what the company said about the device recently. A few days ago, a spokesperson for Valve said the Steam Deck would function the same whether docked or handheld. This means it won't upscale the resolution when played through the dock. The reason for this, according to the device's designer, Greg Coomer, is because the team felt that most gamers would be wanting to use it mobile anyway, so that was the focus for the Deck.
While it's obviously a gaming system designed to put the Steam platform and OS first, the fact that it's essentially a PC means it's compatible with other platforms and software. For example, it was recently revealed that the Deck would work with Microsoft's xCloud service. This doesn't seem like something Valve would want to advertise, so its compatibility with other systems is not mentioned in the video. However, the ad overall does do a good job of giving a brief introduction to the Steam Deck for those who have yet to hear about it.
The Steam Deck is due for release this December.