Valve shared some new information about the improvements coming to Steam Deck 2 – including better battery life – and further expressed its desire to make a Steam 2 controller.
Valve has made no secret of the fact that there will be a sequel to Steam Deck – multiple iterations of the portable gaming PC, in fact – and in an interview with Edge (opens in a new tab)Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais raised several priorities for Steam Deck 2.
When asked about the main points of contention that need to be fixed in the next incarnation of the handheld, both said they were longer battery life and screen improvements.
What about higher performance and smoother frame rates? Apparently it’s not in the cards, as Griffais told The Verge: “Right now, the fact that all Steam decks can play the same games and that we have one goal for users to understand what level of performance to expect when we play, and developers understand what to target… having that one spec is a big value.”
He added: “I think we’re going to decide to stick to one performance level for a bit longer and only look at changing the performance level when a significant gain can be made.”
As we mentioned at the beginning, the topic of a Steam Controller sequel came up, and Yang chimed in: “Yes, we want to make it a reality. The only question is how and when.”
So there will be sequels to both of these pieces of hardware, although Steam Deck 2 is clearly Valve’s goal – but Steam Controller 2 will likely be something that will likely be explored, Yang notes.
Valve employees are also involved in the company’s major efforts to make games run well on Steam Deck and fix issues such as patching stuttering in Elden Ring. Apparently Valve spent about six months getting Halo Infinite up and running, including implementing new Vulkan features to support the game; really impressive lengths.
Efforts to make games compatible with mobile anti-cheat systems are another area of focus, and the engineers have noted that Halo: The Master Chief Collection and Fall Guys are a few examples of games we are actively working on and should become playable on the Deck (eventually).
Analysis: A battery boost would certainly be a big boon
When it comes to Steam Deck 2, battery life is an obvious goal to aim for. Of course, any portable PC literally lives and dies with battery life, which can be especially problematic for demanding games – so getting a decent amount of extra longevity will be a big step forward. Of course, a better screen is another obvious goal that will make a big difference to your overall handheld gaming experience.
It’s interesting that a performance boost is apparently not an option for Steam Deck 2, although it’s clearly something that will happen in future iterations. In any case, while it might be tempting to imagine that a smaller-than-expected shakeup for the sequel could mean Steam Deck 2 is closer to hand than anticipated, that’s unlikely. There’s probably still a long way to go to give Steam Deck buyers plenty of room to enjoy their purchases (and don’t forget Valve had trouble stocking all these folks as it was).
The commentary on working on new Vulkan features for Halo Infinite is also very informative, and there’s an even more eye-catching piece elsewhere in the interview. Namely, that Valve is “directly paying over 100 open source developers” who work on Proton, Vulkan, the Mesa graphics driver, and more. Serious stuff.
As for Steam Controller 2, this prospect – while it seems vague from this mention – has been greeted with enthusiasm in some quarters, as there are certainly fans of the original controller, while also provoking questions about why bother? Considering the original was left canned and the few remaining stocks were more or less given away in 2019. We’ll just have to keep our eyes peeled for further news on this as we’re definitely intrigued to see if this is really something Valve might be pursuing.