Steam Deck is a “multi-generational product line” that will be available to consumers for years to come, according to Valve. The company announced the new product line at its annual Steam Dev Days conference in Seattle on Wednesday. The Steam Deck platform is designed to let developers create games that can be played by multiple generations of gamers, with new features and updates added over time. “We think this is a really important thing for the industry,” said Gabe Newell, president and co-founder of Valve. “It lets us keep making games that are fun for 10-, 15-, 20-year-olds today and their kids tomorrow.” The Steam Deck platform will let developers create games with a variety of different gameplay styles, including cooperative multiplayer games and singleplayer campaigns that can be shared with other players online. The platform also includes tools for game designers to create custom levels and characters, as well as tools for players to share their own levels and mods with others. ..
Valve has released a new digital booklet about the Steam Deck, as well as about Steam and Valve themselves. It’s not a manual, but rather, it serves as a fun read for anyone wanting to know more about the company’s journey up until the launch of the Steam Deck. This digital booklet was launched in time for the Steam Deck’s launch in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and six months after Valve began shipping the Steam Deck to customers.
The most notable takeaway from the book is a quote detailing Valve’s long-term plans for it. The company says that this is a “multi-generational product line” and that “Valve will support Steam Deck and SteamOS well into the foreseeable future.” It further adds that “we will learn from the Steam community about new uses for our hardware that we haven’t thought of yet, and we will build new versions to be even more open and capable than the first version of Steam Deck has been.”
In other words, the current iteration of the Steam Deck is planned to be the first in what will become a product line down the road — we’ll see better, improved generations of the Steam Deck over the coming years. It’s great news. The Steam Deck is using PC hardware, so it needs to stay relevant hardware-wise as games get more demanding. But also, it’s great to see that the Steam Deck won’t just be a one-off product
The current version of the Steam Deck is already amazing, and lets you play a lot of games. Many are also seeking to replicate its formula. But while nothing is known about a possible successor right now, it’s good to see that Valve is committed to coming out with one.
Source: Valve, The Verge
