It looks like Valve may be ramping up their game development, as they’ve confirmed that several games are in the works for the current Steam Deck models while also talking about the potential of Steam Deck 2. 

Speaking to Eurogamer, Steam Deck product designer Greg Coomer discussed why they didn’t have any software lined up to show the new OLED Steam Deck. 

“There is work like that going on at Valve but we’re not debuting a piece of content that is tailored to the OLED screen,”

“I think even when we shipped the first version of Steam Deck it was surprising to a lot of people that we didn’t really orient a lot of our own games – or create a new game – specifically targeted to our hardware or exclusive to Steam Deck. We’re basically conducting ourselves the same way roughly where we don’t have title that is imminent that we’re going to unveil with the launch of OLED.

He further continues, confirming that the studio is working on more titles that are targeting the current Steam Deck hardware. 

“But all of the titles – a lot of which exist but some are unannounced – are definitely targeting this device. So over time you’ll see that from Valve but not in a big splash at the moment of launch.”

With the new OLED model improving in some areas, notably the screen, many had wondered why Valve didn’t take the opportunity to go all out and introduce performance improvements and beefier hardware. As it turns out, they wanted to, but the technology to power what would be Steam Deck 2.0 just doesn’t exist yet, according to Valve’s hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat.

“Obviously we’d love to get even more performance in the same power envelope, but that technology doesn’t exist yet,” Aldehayyat said. “That’s what I think we’d call a Steam Deck 2.0.

The first Steam Deck was the first moment in time where we felt like there was enough GPU performance in a portable form factor that lets you play all your Steam games. We would love for the trend of perf-per-watt to progress rapidly to do that, but it’s not quite there yet.”

From the sounds of it, we shouldn’t expect a Steam Deck 2 anytime soon, though. According to a Valve interview conducted by Bloomberg, Steam Deck 2 is in development, with the promise of next-generation upgrades. The team said don’t expect it for at least another two to three years. 

At the very least, it sounds like Valve is very much committed to the handheld market now, with the Steam Deck 2 seemingly promising some major upgrades to handheld gaming. 

For now, we’ll just have to settle for the new version of the Steam Deck, which has some pretty significant upgrades as listed below. 

Steam Deck OLED Upgrades

• General
  
  • Updated APU to 6 nm for better efficiency
  • Updated memory to 6400 MT/s, improving latency and power management
  • Increased thermal module thickness and performance
• Updated Display
  • Increased active area to 7.4″ (from 7.0″)
  • Updated refresh rate to 90Hz (from 60Hz)
  • Updated peak brightness to 1000 nits
  • Updated touchscreen polling rate to 180Hz, improved latency and accuracy
  • Updated WiFi / Bluetooth module
  • Added support for WiFi 6E
  • Added support for Bluetooth 5.3, supporting newer codecs such as aptX HD and aptX low-latency
  • Added third antenna near the top of the device for better Bluetooth performance, including when docked
  • Added support for wake from Bluetooth controllers
• Audio
  • Improved bass response for an overall flatter sound profile
  • Added support for using onboard microphone array simultaneously with the 3.5mm headphones connector
• Controls
  • Adjusted analog stick top material and shape for increased grip and dust build-up resistance
  • Adjusted analog stick post material to improve interaction feel with front cover and reduce wear
  • Improved reliability of analog stick touch detection
  • Improved responsiveness and tactility of shoulder buttons switch mechanism
  • Adjusted D-pad snap ratio and diagonal interactions
  • Redesigned trackpad for improved fidelity and edge detection
  • Greatly improved trackpad haptics feel and precision
• Power
  • Improved battery capacity from 40Wh to 50Wh
  • Improved battery chemistry for faster charging, from 20% to 80% in as little as 45 minutes
  • Changed charging LED to WRGB
  • Added support for waking up from initial unboxing by long-pressing power button instead of requiring AC power
  • Adjusted power supply cable length from 1.5m to 2.5m
  • Added logo to power supply
• Frame
  • Reduced total system weight to ~640g, or ~5% less than Steam Deck
  • Rear cover screws now thread into metal
  • Adjusted rear cover screw heads to Torx™, as well as other materials and geometry tweaks on the heads to reduce stripping risk
  • Lowered number of screw types throughout system
  • Reduced step count required for common repairs
  • Improved bumper switch mechanism drop reliability
  • Moved bumper switch to joystick board for easier repair
  • Improved display repair/replacement to not require taking rear cover off
• Software
  • Greatly improved memory power management firmware
  • Added preliminary support for open-source BIOS and EC firmware
  • Improved resume time by roughly 30%

Steam Deck OLED will go on sale on November 16 on the Steam website.