Valve Software plans to release a new model of its portable gaming PC the Steam Deck on Nov. 16.
The new Steam Deck OLED, as the name suggests, replaces the system’s original LCD screen with a 1280 x 800 OLED display. It also features an upgraded battery, improved wi-fi, a longer power cable, and comes with either 512 GB ($549) or 1 TB ($649) of onboard memory. In addition, Valve claims the new editions of the Deck are 5% lighter, with better thermal circulation.
The new OLED models effectively replace the old Steam Deck’s 64 GB and 512 GB SKUs, which are still on sale at a lowered price while supplies last. A limited-edition version of the 1 TB model, with a different color scheme and a translucent case, is being offered for sale in the U.S. and Canada.
Bellevue, Wash.-based Valve has not offered any information regarding what motivated its decision to give the Steam Deck a hardware refresh. Since its release in early 2022, the Deck has reportedly sold approximately 3 million units, and heated up the previously-quiet competition among PC manufacturers to create their own portable gaming PCs.
This month saw the release of Lenovo’s entry into the field, the Legion Go, a $700 portable PC that takes some of its design inspirations from the Nintendo Switch. Back in June, Asus also offered its $599/$699 ROG Ally, a portable PC with both TV and desktop compatibilities that’s powered by Windows 11. This sector of the gaming hardware market is older than many consumers think, but it was primarily a curiosity until the release of the Steam Deck.
The Steam Deck is also another step in Valve’s crusade to make the open-source operating system Linux into a competitive platform for PC gaming, in an attempt to provide consumers with a useful alternative to the dominant player, Microsoft’s Windows OS. The Steam Deck runs on a custom Linux build and runs games off its user’s Steam library via custom compatibility layers.
More importantly than that, however, the Steam Deck’s comparative affordability — it’s a decently high-powered gaming PC that’s priced like a mid-range Chromebook — can be seen as an attempt by Valve to galvanize PC gaming in general. Players who do the bulk of their gaming on desktop computers are a vocal minority in the modern market; PC gaming only accounts for roughly 21% of the audience, as per Newzoo.
The Steam Deck’s real value, then, is as an inexpensive gateway product to get new players using the PC as their gaming platform, and not coincidentally, buying their games through Valve’s digital storefront Steam.
At a glance, the OLED editions of the Steam Deck do resolve a couple of the original version’s quality-of-life issues, including its low battery life and short power cable. On the whole, however, just based upon the stats Valve has offered, the new edition of the Steam Deck is more of an incitement for late adopters to finally pick one up than a reason for current owners to trade up to the new model.
