Valve’s thing with the Steam Deck was quite a bombshell. Announced in July 2021 and available after some delay in February 2022, this portable console was able to create a market out of nothing. It has had a lot of competition since then and everyone expected the company to respond with news about a possible successor. That news has just arrived, but despite previous rumors it is probably disappointing for enthusiasts of this platform.
A “multigenerational” device. In August 2022, Valve published a small book in which they talked about their vision with Steam and the Steam Deck, and there they talked about the console as part of a “multi-generational product line.” A few months later they already raised the future development of a second version, but as they indicated in The Verge, it probably would not be a “Pro” version.
Steam Deck 2 will take a while to arrive. Pierre-Loup Griffais has given new information about this potential Steam Deck 2 in this same medium and has indicated that this console will not appear until at least the end of 2025 or even later. They have good reason not to be in a hurry.
More performance, but without compromising autonomy. “Changing the level of performance is not something we take lightly,” said Griffais, who also clarified that “we don’t want higher performance to end up having a significant cost in energy efficiency and battery consumption.” For him the conclusion was clear: “I anticipate that this leap will not be possible for a couple of years”, but at Valve they are already very attentive to advances in semiconductors and architectures to apply them in that future project.
We want to play everything on the Steam Deck. Valve’s portable console has proven to behave fabulously with games of all kinds, but it is true that in recent times many have wanted to tighten the screws and enjoy particularly demanding (or poorly optimized) titles like ‘The Last of Us Part 1’. ‘, ‘Starfield’ or the recently released ‘Mortal Kombat 1’. It is possible to play these games, but always accepting that the Steam Deck hardware has its limits, which those responsible always try to expand with improvements such as those integrated in SteamOS 3.5.
Will there be a Steam Deck 1.5? Although Valve makes it clear that a more powerful console will take time to arrive, what could arrive is a more efficient version that, maintaining that power ceiling, would take advantage of new chips to improve battery life. This is what, for example, Nintendo did with the Switch, for which it also launched the version with an OLED screen. Precisely a screen with a variable refresh rate would probably improve the experience, something that competitors such as the ASUS ROG Ally or the Ayaneo Geek 1S have demonstrated.
Imagen | Alexander Andrews
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