Valve Delays Steam Deck 2 Upgrade, Prioritizes Performance Gains

In a recent interview, Valve Software Engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais has revealed that the company is not rushing to release a more powerful version of the nearly four-year-old Steam Deck. Griffais explains that portable gaming silicon has not yet advanced enough to provide a "worthwhile" performance upgrade without significantly impacting battery life.

Valve is aiming for a substantial leap in performance, not just a 20-50% increase, before launching a Steam Deck 2. The engineer notes that while newer handheld devices like the ROG Xbox Ally X offer more powerful hardware, they often come at the cost of shorter battery runtimes and higher prices.

Griffais' comments suggest that Valve is taking a cautious approach, prioritizing a meaningful upgrade over a marginal one. The company has consistently downplayed expectations of an imminent Steam Deck follow-up, with Valve engineers previously stating that such an upgrade would be "years away" and "well in the future."

For now, Valve will focus on offering players a screenless Steam Machine that it claims will be "over 6x more powerful than the Steam Deck." Gamers eager for a significant performance boost in a portable form factor may have to wait a bit longer before Valve deems the technology ready for a true Steam Deck 2 release.