Steam Deck Designers Reveal Future Console Updates In Expansive Interview

Steam Deck designers recently gave in-depth insight into the future of the highly-popular handheld gaming device. From plans to update the software indefinitely, to continue to experiment with new hardware, the team does not plan to take its foot off the gas.

Since Valve launched its Steam Deck, it has run into its fair share of issues. However, this has not stopped gamers from wanting to get their hands on one of the slick handheld devices, with the company even giving away a Steam Deck a minute during at its recent Game Awards event. Now, in an extensive interview with The Verge, two of the company's Steam Deck designers have divulged some of the plans for the future of the device.

In terms of the Steam Deck becoming "stable" like a traditional console, Pierre-Loup Griffais stated, "I don't think you should expect that." He continued, "Stable in terms of having a great experience for people? Yeah, absolutely. But I think we are always going to be pushing updates as long as there's people playing."

When it comes to updates, Lawrence Yang says the team is working off two big lists of what they want to fix and what they still want to create. Yang says the bug list grows as more people get their hands on the device. With more people playing on a Steam Deck, more feedback comes in about bugs being found. This feedback also translates into more features they would like to implement, based on key ideas and information the team is receiving from players.

Griffais says, "We're aiming to make the update process as painless and smooth as possible... you just reboot into them."

Another revision that is being worked on is in terms of the ease of replacing the battery in the Steam Deck. iFixit stated the battery replacement was "the Steam Deck's Achilles heel." This is because the glue that is used to keep the battery in place makes it difficult to remove.

Yang says that Valve's hope is to make everything as replaceable as possible, and he admits the glue is not ideal. "We have rolled in a change to the geometry of the adhesive, making the battery easier to loosen," added Yang.

Some might remember Valve's failed attempt at bringing Steam Machines to market years ago. Yang notes that while Valve may not bring the Steam Machine back from the dead, once the Deck's SteamOS 3 is available for other manufacturers there is hope that they might "carry the torch".

Yang added, "Once it's widely available, not only are we excited to see other manufacturers making their own handheld PC gaming devices, we're excited to see people make their own SteamOS machines which could include small PCs that they put next to their TV."

Some of the other interesting tidbits mentioned in the interview include a second-gen Steam Deck coming, a Steam Controller 2 being worked on, an audio mixer for game, music, and chat, and a fix for the Bluetooth audio lag. However, if you are curious as to how many units of the Steam Deck have been sold, Yang says the company will not be sharing numbers as a general rule. Yang did, however, state there have been "hundreds of thousands" of sales since August (not including any $5 reservations that were still in the queue).