Valve Pauses Steam Deck 2 Development, Awaiting “generational Leap” in Chip Technology
SEATTLE, WA – November 11, 2024 – Valve is holding off on plans for a second-generation Steam deck, citing a lack of suitable processing technology that would deliver a notable performance upgrade without compromising battery life. The company confirmed it is not pursuing incremental improvements, instead prioritizing a ”demarcated” leap in capabilities for its next handheld gaming PC.
Valve has repeatedly stated its intention to release Steam Deck sequels, but remains patient in bringing them to market. According to Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais, “there’s no offerings in that landscape, in the SOC landscape, that we think would truly be a next-gen performance Steam Deck.” The company seeks more than a 20-50% performance increase at the same battery life, aiming for a more significant advancement.
This decision comes despite Valve’s exploration of option processor architectures.While initially believing the current Steam Deck chip coudl power a standalone VR headset, the recently announced Steam Frame utilizes an Arm processor with emulation for Windows games. Griffais acknowledged Arm’s “a lot of potential” for future handhelds.
Valve previously confirmed in 2022 its long-term vision for the Steam Deck included sequels.Since then, Griffais has consistently emphasized the need for a significant improvement in performance and efficiency before launching a new iteration, stating in 2023, “We really do want to wait for a generational leap in compute without sacrificing battery life before we ship the real second generation of Steam Deck.” Lawrence yang of Valve reiterated this sentiment in 2024 to Reviews.org.
Currently, Valve has no plans to offer the Trackpad Module (TMR) joysticks as a drop-in module for the original Steam Deck.
