Valve expects a generational leap that does not yet exist

Valve has (finally) announced the availability and price of one of its next devices, the Steam Controller It will be launched on May 4 with a (high) price of 99 euros in Spain. But we are all wondering about the rest of the hardware announced, where it seems that it will soon offer more information. The one that seems to take a while to appear is the Steam Deck 2despite the fact that Valve has already confirmed that it is working on it.

Steam Deck 2 undated: Valve prioritizes a real technological leap

The manufacturer wants to repeat the success of the Steam Deck with the second version, that is why it is waiting for the ideal moment to begin the design and manufacturing of this second model. At the moment, Valve has not offered any date for its launch, even an approximate one, so it could take years until it appears.

Development is still underway, but will not be available until the technological leap is significant to offer a truly differentiating product even compared to the first version. One of the main people responsible for this next project has commented that they are working hard on the new Valve console. The bad news is that they have not found, for the moment, a hardware set that meets your demands.

Performance is not enough: autonomy will be key

This set of hardware should offer more than just an improvement in gaming performance. The video game giant is also looking to optimize the autonomy on Steam Deck 2an autonomy that must also increase to offer incremental change in all aspects. The head of Valve himself has indicated that there is no point in offering a 50% more performance if this is not accompanied by improvements in the autonomy of the console.

Without a suitable SoC, the launch will remain up in the air

With such clear ideas, Valve wants to offer an innovative and differentiating set that unfortunately cannot be achieved with current chips. The manufacturer has indicated that there is no SoC on the market that allows you to offer what you are looking for. This leaves the manufacturers of this type of chips open (AMD Ryzen Z2 Series and the next Intel Arc G3 Series), a new path when it comes to offering silicon designed for this type of devices.

Intel and AMDand who knows if NVIDIA and Qualcommthey can take ideas for their future designs and architectures. It seems that the company responsible for the upcoming Steam Deck 2 has left the future of this console in the hands of these manufacturers. Valve is waiting for the right moment to offer the set it wants for its audience with the Steam Deck 2.

The current Steam Deck continues to comply, but with limitations

Even though the Original Steam Deck It is now 4 years old, it continues to offer excellent results, although the renovation it underwent in 2023 has not seen improvements in performance. Some more recent games are having difficulty running on the Steam Deck with good performance, and the battery limitation It even goes down to 90 minutes with more demanding titles. Maybe it’s a good time to think about his successor.

At the moment Valve has not specified anything about when this second version of the Steam Deck may arrive. For now it seems focused on offering its new hardware soon, starting with the Steam Controller which will arrive in a few days, on May 4. Let’s hope that after launching the Steam Frame and the new Steam Machinegets fully on board with the Steam Deck 2 that so many users are waiting for.

The launch will depend on the balance between power and autonomy offered by the next SoC for portable consoles with Windows

Everything indicates that the Steam Deck 2 release date will depend on hardware capable of offering a significant performance increase with a also significant increase in autonomy. A balance that seems difficult but that will surely arrive, sooner or later.