At a recent event, two of Valve’s Steam Deck engineers discussed future enhancements to the portable gaming device with attendees. Since its release at the beginning of the year, the Steam Deck has become one of the year’s most popular toys.

Since its debut in February, Valve has pledged to continually improve the Steam Deck by delivering software upgrades. These enhancements were made in response to user input and to address issues with the portability of popular titles like Elden Ring. Both widely-recommended and experimental improvements that people may test out in the wild fall under this category.

What Are The Improvements

The creators of the Steam Deck, Lawrence Yang, as well as Pierre-Loup Griffis, recently discussed the prospects of Steam Deck support in a conversation with the media. Apart from fixing bugs, the most wanted software upgrades are ones that provide new functionality, such as enhanced cloud sync, the ability to share power profiles, and additional audio customization choices. To facilitate hardware maintenance and replacement, batteries in future models will be designed to be removed with less effort. To prevent the Steam Deck from becoming a “Steam Deck maraca,” as Yang calls it, the batteries are purposefully built to remain constrained. The coolers, a few of which have been heard to make a whining sound, also benefit from this design to facilitate repairs on the Steam Deck.

Newer versions of the Steam Deck will continue to focus on enhancing its displays and battery life. Griffis stated that there is “a lot of value” in maintaining a consistent power output across all Steam Decks. Hence there is currently little impetus to make significant improvements in performance to the Steam Deck. To further explore the gaming possibilities presented by the Steam Deck, Yang is enthusiastic about the prospect of rendering the Deck’s SteamOS 3 accessible to other companies. The Steam Deck is still Valve’s top hardware goal, but Yang confirms the business is still keen on developing a successor to the Steam Controller, maybe in collaboration with a third party.

The Takeaway

The Steam Deck has clearly taken cues from the Nintendo Switch ever since that gadget was announced, but Valve has distinguished itself by releasing frequent updates and working tirelessly to enhance the Steam Deck’s technology. As a result of this and Valve’s generally pleasant attitude to technology, the Steam Deck is easily among the most accessible and hassle-free gaming systems available. Purchases of the Steam Deck have not yet reached the heights of the Nintendo Switch, but Valve is clearly not done improving the Steam Deck offering.