The rumors were true. Steam was working on a portable console after all, and will be called the Steam Deck.
Made public by Valve through its own storefront, it can be wishlisted now and will go on sale this Christmas.
Many portable PCs have been released before, including Kickstarter favourites GPD, but failed to truly capture a sizeable market. Valve however, is a different prospect.
What is the Steam Deck?
The Steam Deck has an AMD chip optimized for gaming on the go, based on Zen 2 and RDNA 2, giving "more than enough performance to run the latest AAA games."
Valve has confirmed that the our entire Steam libraries will be available for use on the Steam Deck.
How do you play games on the Steam Deck?
The important thing is how the Steam Deck plays. As we can see in the image above, there are many different ways to play, since Steam's range of games is very wide.
The machine has two thumbsticks, a D-pad, ABXY buttons, shoulder buttons and paddles on each side.
As if this were not enough, it also has a trackpad on each side, for those games that have mouse control, and a gyroscope.
Hardware
- Joysticks - Built-in capacitive sensors. "They provide a level of precision and comfort never seen in any other portable gaming device."
- Triggers - A wide range of positions, ideal for driving games.
- Paddles - Four re-assignable buttons for superior control.
- Storage - 64 GB eMMC, 256 GB NVMe SSD (faster) or 512 GB NVMe SSD (fastest) versions. Expandable with MicroSD.
- HD haptic vibration.
- Audio - Integrated DSP and dual microphones to talk to your friends.
- Battery - 40Whr. Several hours lifespan for demanding games, and 7-8 for indies. USB-C power.
- WiFi and Bluetooth 5.0 compatible with controllers, headphones, keyboards and mice.
- Display - 7 '' 1280 x 800 resolution touchscreen LCD (16:10 aspect ratio) @ 60Hz
- Dock - Sold separately.
- Weight - 669 grams
- Measurements - 298mm x 117mm x 49mm
Software
Steam has created a new operating system, different from our PCs. This is a new version of SteamOS, specifically designed for the Steam Deck and "optimized for portable gaming."
Valve mentions it comes with Proton, a compatibility layer that will make it possible to run games without any porting needed by the developers.
Available Features
- Steam Chat - Available with one button.
- Notifications - You can review them without leaving the game.
- Cloud saves - so you can continue where you left off on your PC.
- Remote Playback - Stream from PC to Deck.
- Store and Community
Prices and Versions
According to the official website, it will be available from December 2021 in the US, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, with preorders taking place soon. In 2022 it will be expanded to more regions.
The latest update from Steam seems to hint at Valve’s plans to create a console-like device, with the files referencing a “SteamPal” device
