The Steam Deck has been a runaway success, with Valve entering the gaming hardware market in a new and interesting way – and introducing a whole new audience to PC gaming and its many benefits. Following this, the Steam Deck’s designers have discussed the future of the platform, including the fact that the Deck will not be getting a Pro variant.
In an interview conducted by The Verge, Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais discussed the future of the hardware, revealing that while the Steam Deck will definitely get a second generation, fans should not hold their breath for a mid-gen refresh, saying:
“”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.”
We have already seen competing companies releasing handheld devices technically more powerful than the Steam Deck, but in maintaining a small SKU of devices, Valve is able to put all their efforts into optimising the hardware as best as possible through software and more.
While the Steam Deck shares many identities with traditional console hardware, Valve stressed that the Steam Deck will always share more in common with PCs and their experience, being technically less stable but more fringe, saying:
“I don't think you should expect [console-like stability]. Stable in terms of having a great experience for people? Yeah, absolutely. But I think we are always going to be pushing updates as long as there's people playing.”
Considering the fact that the Steam Deck has been in people’s hands for less than a year, it is encouraging to see that Valve is already looking into the future and preparing for not only the long term support of this current hardware, but future hardware too. The full interview can be found HERE.
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KitGuru says: What do you think of these statements? Do you own a Steam Deck? When do you expect a successor to be announced? Let us know down below.