Valve Announces Steam Deck Handheld

This week Valve announced that they’re going to be entering the handheld gaming space by launching their premium Steam Deck handheld console later this year.

The handheld will be running a custom version of the Steam OS, but players will be given the option to load whatever operating system they want (including Windows). The console will feature users’ entire Steam library of games and will come in three different variations: a 64GB, 256GB, and a 512GB model.

The hardware is pretty beefy outside of the NVME hard drives, with Zen 2 + RDNA powering the handheld. For comparison's sake, this is the same backbone that the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X use for their consoles. Additionally, the Steam Deck will feature Micro SD card compatibility and will have a 40Whr battery that’ll provide between 2-8 hours of charge.

The screen in the device is a 1280x800 pixel touchscreen with 60Hz refresh rate. A dock will also be made available to connect the device to a monitor to serve as a PC.

Valve announced this device days after Nintendo revealed their new OLED Switch model, which disappointed many as there was no real hardware upgrade for gaming prowess.

Preorders for the device are available now through the Steam store, and devices are expected to begin shipping in December. It appears that many gamers are interested in the device because as of press time the expected delivery for preorders placed is now the first quarter of 2022.

At Evil Controllers, we’re pretty geeked for this new hardware and will be following the device closely and updating readers as we learn more.