If I told you that Valve could pretend to dethrone Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox in your living room next year, as well as challenge Meta Quest as the gamer's VR headset of choice, would you believe me? will you believe? because valve may have one Very SteamOS hardware on the way.
If there is a fire where we are currently seeing smoke, the valve is currently preparing wireless vr headset codename deckarda pair trackable stick codename roy, Steam Controller 2 Gamepad Codename Ibexand a Codename Fremont Living Room Console Very. (that last one Now the possibility appears Compared to yesterday.) And Valve has now also revealed plans to create third-party SteamOS hardware for partners.
It will not be easy to compete with Sony, Microsoft or Meta. Those companies have a lot to lose, and they are deeply entrenched. But Steam Deck has revealed a major weakness in each of their businesses can take Them years to perfect – The desire to play a huge library of games anytime, anywhere.
and when they count He Outside, Valve could build a whole new ecosystem of SteamOS hardware, which would eventually allow PC and peripheral makers to port a vast and vast array of Windows games to all kinds of different hardware without having to rely on Microsoft or subjecting their customers to tons of hassle. Can tap into a growing library. Windows problems.
Today, every major PC company is manufacturing One or more Steam Deck rivalsBut without Valve's blessing and support, they're tied to a Windows OS that doesn't make starting, stopping, and resuming games quickly and seamlessly enough to feel portable and easy. When building those handhelds, they also typically rely on off-the-shelf AMD chips, as parts from no other manufacturer currently compete on Windows Gaming Plus batteries.
But Valve has long said it would open SteamOS to other manufacturers as well Recently Rival committed to some direct support for the handheld Like the Asus ROG Ellie – and the other week, Valve quietly updated a document This may reveal its broader overarching strategy. It won't just leave SteamOS sitting around and hoping that creators will make something – it will hold their hand.
Valve now has a clear label for third parties to create “powered by SteamOS” devices, which it clearly defines as “hardware running the SteamOS operating system, implemented in close collaboration with Valve.”
Additionally it allows companies to create “Steam Compatible” hardware that comes with “Valve approved controller inputs” as well as SteamVR hardware and. steam link Hardware that lets you stream games from one device to another.
And if the leaks are true, manufacturers won't have to choose just one or two of those labels. it sounds like Valve's Steam Controller 2 may include elements that can be detected and tracked in VR environments valve's vr stick It will have enough buttons to function as a gamepad, as well as play Steam's vast library of flatscreen games.
Valve is probably also working to reduce reliance on AMD's x86 chips. Datamining by Brad Lynch, a Valve watcher whose community has uncovered most, if not all, of these leaks, Valve revealed to be testing multiple Steam gamesIncluding VR games, even on Arm chips.
while valve once told me Steam Deck's AMD x86 chip could be a good candidate for a potential future standalone VR headset, with Arm chips potentially offering better battery life and lower weight for a portable product than x86 – even that While Valve investigates more powerful AMD solutions than ever before For a potential living room console.
When Valve asked PC makers to sign on to its Steam Machine initiative a decade ago with the idea of creating a living room PC console, It demanded a leap of faith with very little to show for it and very little chance of successIt also took years for Valve to create a unique living room controller for its Steam Machines, and it didn't take much longer to convince Windows game developers to port their games to Linux.
But by the time Steam Deck was announced, Valve had built out the Proton software compatibility layer so well that many Windows games now run better on Linux, and created the most customizable yet familiar set of controls ever created.
If manufacturers could create their own Steam Machines instead of equivalent Windows machines, they could offer better gaming products than they do today. They might also want to release a VR headset that isn't tied to Microsoft or Meta, if it doubles as a Steam Deck, to portable play decades of flatscreen games.
It's not clear that any of this will come to fruition; valve is a very small company He tries not to pursue too many things at one time. When I talk to PC industry executives about why they choose Windows over SteamOS, some say they're worried about whether Valve will actually be able to support them.
But it's an equally interesting idea as it was 12 years ago When Gabe Newell explained us the initial approachAnd this time, there's a much better chance that it will work.