Summary
A recent discovery suggests that Valve may be finalizing its plans to release theSteam Deck’s SteamOS operating system for third-party devices. Valve confirmed long ago that it was working on making SteamOS available on a wider scale, and it seems the software will soon be extended to devices outside theSteam Deck.
Despite the Steam Deck’s power deficit compared to rivals like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion GO, the Valve handheld gaming PC still has a big trump card in SteamOS. The Linux-based operating system is highly regarded among Steam Deck owners for its intuitive controls, snappy interface, and general ease-of-use. The Steam Deck’s competitors use Windows, which isn’t quite optimized for a handheld form factor yet. Microsoft is allegedly working on ahandheld mode for Windows 11, but there’s no indication of when it’ll be available to users.
However, it seems Valve itself might come to the rescue of those who want theSteam Deck user experienceon a third-party device. The well-known SteamDB tracking tool recently discovered some newValve branding guidelinesthat strongly hint at afull release of SteamOS in the near future. The 45-page document contains a “Powered by SteamOS” section that lays out guidelines for a dedicated logo. The “Powered by SteamOS” logo will be applied to devices that will run SteamOS and boot into the operating system at startup.
SteamOS May Soon Be Available on the Steam Deck’s Competitors
The write-up continues by outlining that partners and manufacturers shipping hardware that runs SteamOS must incorporate a Steam image in the form “provided by and/or developed in close collaboration with Valve.” This makes it clear that Valve’s new branding guidelines indeed refer tothird-party devices having access to SteamOS. Moreover, the guidelines indicate that Valve prefers third-party partners to ship their devices with SteamOS pre-installed, rather than the operating system being a standalone release that can be installed by users later on. Of course, both of these instances could be possible, but this will only be confirmed when Valve officially announces the full release of SteamOS.
The timeline for this announcement is currently unknown, but it seems quite likely that Valve is working with third-party manufacturers behind the scenes to help optimize SteamOS for the latter’s devices. It should also be interesting to see how Microsoft responds to SteamOS potentially being a widely-used operating system for future handheld PCs. The company may stand the risk of losing business from handheld PC manufacturers who go with SteamOS over Windows, and combined with thedevelopment of its own Xbox handheld, Microsoft could expedite its plans for making the Windows experience more palatable on portable systems.
Steam Deck
The Steam Deck is Valve’s entry into the handheld PC market, using a custom Linux-based OS to bring your Steam library wherever you go. Launched in 2022 with an LCD screen, an updated model with an OLED screen followed in late 2023.
