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this Steam Bundle It was one of the best new devices to come out in 2022 and won one of our Editors’ Choice awards. A new interview with Steam Deck developers answered more vexing questions about the PC-powered mobile console and what might come next.
In an extensive interview with The Verge, Steam Deck designers Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais explained what’s been going on with the game’s system since its launch in February. The team behind the console has continued to release updates with quality-of-life improvements and new features, but there are a few new extras they want to release on the device, including what they want to improve in the next generation.
We know Valve is considering the next generation of Steam Deck, and the designers pointed out two shortcomings they’ll want to improve in the next release: the display and the battery. In the current Steam Bundle, the battery, unlike other internal components, is glued in place and is difficult to remove. The Steam Deck team is working on new hardware revisions to make battery removal easier, but keeping the battery in place so it doesn’t get dislodged.
While the next Steam Deck will likely feature a different one, Valve won’t follow Sony and Microsoft in releasing a more powerful mid-gen Steam Deck Pro – instead, they’re more keen on keeping all consoles on the same performance specs. Just as Nintendo refrained from making a Switch Pro despite having the ability to do so, Valve wanted to keep it simple so game developers and users know what performance to expect.
Since Valve has already made hardware tweaks to fix the issues, it wouldn’t be surprising if the battery fix will be implemented in future shipments of the current Steam Deck. Following customers’ complaints that the internal fan was making a high-pitched hum, Valve replaced another manufacturer’s fan and even continued to ship consoles with the first fan, after later introducing an “engineered foam solution” that silenced the fan.
Meanwhile, Valve won’t neglect the current Steam Deck, stating that the software feature list will continue to grow, but so will the bugs. The developers acknowledged that the console will never be extremely stable and owners can expect bugs to pop up here and there, but after some updates destabilized the experience too much, the team decided to release updates every month for the so-called ‘Stable’. software layer.
As for Steam Controller 2, Valve wants to make it happen, but “it’s just a question of how and when.”
