Valve comments on Steam Deck 2, Steam Controller 2 and Steam Machines while dismissing AMD Ryzen 7 6800U handhelds
The Verge has managed to tease a few details from Valve about upcoming hardware. While Valve has been open of its plan to bring 'new versions of Steam Deck to market', Valve's Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais, a UX designer and a developer respectively, have provided more information about the company's direction of travel for the next few years.
On the one hand, Griffais outlined that Valve is not focusing on making performance improvements with a second-generation Steam Deck:
Right now the fact that all the Steam Decks can play the same games and that we have one target for users to understand what kind of performance level to expect when you're playing and for developers to understand what to target... there's a lot of value in having that one spec... I think we'll opt to keep the one performance level for a little bit longer, and only look at changing the performance level when there is a significant gain to be had.
In short, Valve does not consider the Ryzen 7 6800U and Radeon 680M enough of a performance jump from the Aerith APU in the Steam Deck. Although neither Griffais nor Yang dismissed the notion of Valve using another custom APU, it seems that the Steam Deck 2 will launch with the same APU as its predecessor. With performance improvements off the table, Valve is focusing on bringing better battery life and improved display technology to the Steam Deck with a second-generation model.
On the other hand, Valve would also like to see a return of Steam Machines and the Steam Controller. Ultimately, Valve is too busy with the Steam Deck to focus on other projects, but it is 'already testing additional concepts in the living room'. In both cases, Valve would consider working with third parties to deliver a Steam Controller 2 and new Steam Machines.
Moreover, the pair confirmed that Valve is also working on improving the current Steam Deck. Specifically, the device's latest revision contains new adhesive to simplify battery replacements, a design flaw that iFixit flagged in its Steam Deck teardown. Furthermore, Valve is also shipping newer Steam Deck models with a tweaked fan housing aimed at reducing fan noise. Unfortunately, it remains unknown when Valve will announce any new hardware, let alone a second-generation Steam Deck.
Source(s)
The Verge via Tom's Hardware, Alexander Andrews (Unsplash) - Image credit
