“SteamPal” Spotted in Latest Steam Update, Mentions Handheld-Like Settings (Airplane Mode, Etc.)

Remember Valve’s Steam Machines? While that didn’t set the gaming world on fire as much as the company would have wanted, could the company be gearing up for a portable hardware gaming system?

With yesterday’s Steam client beta, it seems some files unearthed (and posted on github) points to “SteamPal,” and it sounds like portable hardware. Within the files, it mentions controller bindings, “quick access” and a “power menu,” and even a system settings menu (airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth).

Important to note: Gabe Newell, big boss at Valve, also hinted that Steam could be coming to consoles (or some variation of it) during a public Q&A earlier this year.

Obviously, this should all be taken with a huge bag of salt, but given how Valve has shown interest in entering the hardware sector, I wouldn’t be surprised if it releases its own portable gaming device with Steam enabled (maybe something handier than a laptop, but more suited to gaming than a phone?).

Would you want to see a portable Valve-backed gaming device?

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