Valve seems to be going all-in on the console market with the Steam Deck. One of Valve’s designers confirmed the company is planning to develop next-gen iterations of the handheld PC, with streaming in mind.
As reported by VGC, several Valve developers spoke in an interview with Famitsu Weekly about players in Asia finally getting the ability to reserve a Steam Deck of their own. When asked about where the Steam Deck will go next, designer Greg Coomer gave a response confirming that Valve is interested in iterating on its system.
“Unless something major changes, there will be a next generation of Steam Deck products in the future,” he said. “The theme, size, and shape will change, and it might even become a streaming machine. Development of the Steam Deck will continue.”
Coomer gave a few reasons to explain Valve’s commitment to the system, including the handheld device being an extension of Steam, and being like another PC in a different form. He noted that people can play Steam games on devices other than the Steam Deck, so streaming games on the handheld may not be outside the realm of possibility.
One of the improvements that will be made to future Steam Deck consoles is battery life. According to developer Pierre-Loup Griffais, the team is already optimizing the operating system on the current iteration of the system so that the battery lasts longer when it’s running games that don’t strain it as much as others, going so far as to allow players to play refresh rates at 40Hz.
Valve previously made its plans to develop next-gen Steam Deck systems known when it published a Steam Deck booklet last week. In February, it teased the Steam Deck 2, which it says will be more powerful than the current one and may offer VR capabilities.