We didn’t find a game that doesn’t run on the Steam Deck, says Valve -apkrig
It’s been a week since the introduction of Valve’s Hand Deld Steam Deck. During that time, the first interested parties could book the device and use the available information to start considering whether the device has a real application, how it stands against the competition, or discuss which games will run on the Steam Deck, which will not and most importantly – when it runs, how they will look like. The only source of new observations and comments directly from Valve is IGN magazine, which was given the opportunity not only to try out the device, but also to continue talking to the people who are directly responsible for Steam Deck and find out the answers to some of the burning questions. Therefore, the new video discusses the launch of games directly from the expansion SD card, the performance of the device as such, and sound confident claims of the type – we did not find a game that Steam Deck could not handle.
Designer John Ikeda, Sales Representative Shreya Liu, hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat and developer Pierre-Loup Griffais spoke about the device. In the beginning, they agreed that Steam Deck is literally a physical demonstration of digital Steam, and the purpose is to give players the feeling that they can take their library of games anywhere. John Ikeda, however, spoke a little uncritically about the fact that the whole team is extremely proud of all aspects of the device, including the battery, which, however, with its stated endurance of 2-8 hours is so far received rather negatively or at least with apprehension. However, when it comes to hardware, Valve certainly doesn’t have to be ashamed – as Aldehayyat points out, the handheld uses AMD’s latest CPU and GPU and is one of the first devices to use the new DDR5 memory. “It’s difficult for us to compare devices to something at the moment, but I hope we get to the point where all games will be playable and offer a very good experience,” adds the hardware engineer.
Valve talks about the different requirements of all players and believes that while those who are not explicitly concerned with the graphic quality, but rather prefer the smoothness of the game, they will be satisfied.
Pierre-Loup Griffais also admitted that for some time it was difficult for Valve and Steam Deck to run newer games in a candidate quality. However, the Steam Deck phase of failed prototypes is long gone and Griffais claims that last generation games runs on a handheld without any serious problems. “We’re talking about the entire library of games on Steam. Honestly, we didn’t find any title that this device could not handle at least for now, “adds the developer. This should also apply to the games that are planned for this year, although Valve representatives openly note that the lower display resolution and the effort to guarantee 30 fps are behind it all. Griffais talks about the different requirements of all players and believes that while those who are not explicitly concerned with the graphic quality, but rather prefer the smoothness of the game, they will be satisfied. Otherwise, compromises can come, because the hardware – although probably high quality and sufficient – does not logically match the capabilities of desktop computers.
Another important factor for Steam Deck will be the size of the storage and the technology used. As we pointed out in the first article, the cheapest variant with 64GB of storage uses only eMMC, which is slower than NVMe SSD, available in the middle and most expensive variant. On the other hand, Steam Deck contains a slot for MicroSD cards, on which it will not be necessary to just put games. Valve has confirmed on several occasions that games can run directly from the card, for which they have created interfaces and optimized data transfer speeds. The result is a functional way to play games, even though the company’s representatives transparently add that it will not be a solution that is completely comparable in terms of performance with internal storage. They also discuss the controls, touchpads, which are an improved version of those available on the Steam Controller, and confirm that much of the testing focused on the ergonomics of the entire device, which at least from the pictures does not look like the strongest side of the Steam Deck.
Gabe Newell then suggested in a follow-up interview that the first version of Steam Deck could be the cornerstone of the new computer platform, and unfortunately mentioned something that fans and players are a little worried about. The partnership with other hardware manufacturers, which he talked about a week ago, does not only include different future configurations, but simply the possibility of owning Deck will be created by anyone who agrees with Valve. This returns the concept of a failed Steam Box, ie a small computer to the living room, which was also to offer the ability to run games from Steam without having to connect a large computer. However, direct focus on the player through a clearly defined shape and the presence of controls can be a deciding factor and it is still too early for the courts. In the first wave, the handheld will arrive at the end of this year, and those who did not manage to order the Steam Deck in time will probably get to it sooner rather than later. As he noticed PC Gamer, delivery times began to shorten, and while Steam indicated to someone a few hours ago that the Steam Deck configuration would not arrive until Q3 next year, it is now the second quarter in some regions.
