Valve confirms it's working on the Steam Deck 2, but it's waiting for two things

Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang says the Steam Deck 2 will arrive when there's 'a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life.'

Valve confirms it's working on the Steam Deck 2, but it's waiting for two things
Comment IconFacebook IconX IconReddit Icon
Senior Editor
Published
2 minutes & 30 seconds read time

Valve is launching the Steam Deck in Australia in a couple of weeks, and to celebrate the occasion, they set up shop at PAX Australia earlier this month to demonstrate and discuss the company's first foray into the world of PC gaming handhelds.

Valve confirms it's working on the Steam Deck 2, but it's waiting for two things 2

After its initial launch in 2022 in the US and the arrival of the Steam Deck OLED variant in holiday 2023, you might be surprised to learn that the company is in no rush to create a sequel and is treating the Deck in much the same way Nintendo or Sony might when it comes to a traditional console generation.

Speaking with Reviews.org, Steam Deck designer Lawrence Yang noted that a proper Steam Deck 2 won't be a thing until a chip can provide "a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life."

The company sees the OLED model as more of a refresh or premium edition, the same handheld albeit with a fancier display. Again, this is a similar approach to that we saw with Nintendo and the arrival of the Switch OLED, where something as simple as a display panel upgrade can deliver a perceivable improvement to visual quality.

The good news is that Valve is working on a Steam Deck 2 and is excited about the prospect of a second-generation device. It's unlikely that the Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip, slated for a 2025 release, will present enough performance increase to meet Valve's generational leap and efficiency requirement. Its more powerful RDNA 3.5 graphics and increased power will find its way into portable gaming devices, but Valve isn't interested in releasing an incremental update or revised model every year.

"It is important to us, and we've tried to be really clear, we are not doing the yearly cadence," said Lawrence Yang. "We're not going to do a bump every year. There's no reason to do that. And, honestly, from our perspective, that's kind of not really fair to your customers to come out with something so soon that's only incrementally better."

Yang confirmed that, regarding Steam Deck 2, " We're excited about it, and we're working on it."

Photo of the Valve Steam Deck OLED 1TB Handheld Gaming Console
Best Deals: Valve Steam Deck OLED 1TB Handheld Gaming Console
Country flag Today 7 days ago 30 days ago
$720 USD $729.99 USD
Buy
$829.99 USD $834.99 USD
Buy
$720 USD $729.99 USD
Buy
£1763.99 £1543.20
Buy
$720 USD $729.99 USD
Buy
* Prices last scanned on 2/17/2025 at 12:55 am CST - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission from any sales.
NEWS SOURCE:reviews.org

Senior Editor

Email IconX IconLinkedIn Icon

Kosta is a veteran gaming journalist that cut his teeth on well-respected Aussie publications like PC PowerPlay and HYPER back when articles were printed on paper. A lifelong gamer since the 8-bit Nintendo era, it was the CD-ROM-powered 90s that cemented his love for all things games and technology. From point-and-click adventure games to RTS games with full-motion video cut-scenes and FPS titles referred to as Doom clones. Genres he still loves to this day. Kosta is also a musician, releasing dreamy electronic jams under the name Kbit.

Related Topics

Newsletter Subscription