Valve is also considering returning to the Steam Controller, which was in production from 2013 to 2019…
We previously reported that Valve called the highly successful Steam Deck a multi-generation device. Two of its designers, Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais, have spoken out that they are indeed working on a new model. Based on their interview with The Verge, don’t expect it to be a more powerful model: the redesign is focused on screen and battery life, and they want stable performance now to benefit developers and gamers alike. They will consider more vital hardware when there is a significant advantage to replacing components.
“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,” the developers said.
The first-generation model of the Steam Deck has already changed since its launch, and it will continue. Valve has mainly tweaked the software so far, but the designers confirmed that hardware changes have also been made. For example, the battery gluing and system fans have been modified, the Steam and Quick Access buttons have been redesigned, and it’s easier to replace the battery. In the future, gamers could even share their Steam Deck power profiles, but sharing graphics settings would be a significant task, and Valve has no plans to do so, Griffais says.
There are plans to do something with the Steam Controller. In 2013, as part of the Steam Machines initiative, a two-trackpad, haptic feedback controller was unveiled to mimic the feel of a mouse ball. Gabe Newell’s company has sold about 1.6 million of the controllers in six years, and Yang says it’s not out of the question that they’ll make a new model: “Yeah, we want to make it happen. It’s just a question of how and when. I think it’s likely that we’ll explore that because it’s something we wanted as well. Right now, we’re focusing on the Deck, so it’s a little bit of the same thing as the micro console question: it’s something where we’d be excited to work with a third party or explore ourselves.”
It’s reasonable that they’re focusing on just one Steam Deck model because that way, developers don’t have to deal with multiple variants.
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