They’re probably all in on steamdeck (and planning steamdeck 2) for a good while. They have enough workload for that, so I can’t imagine they’re doing VR.
I highly doubt they have just shelved VR entirely in order to focus on Steam Deck.
Valve has openly stated that they only work on things that interest them, which is why unless there is some interesting new technology to play with (like they played with VR for Alyx), there will be no HL3.
I can totally see them chasing the shiny and dropping VR to focus on Steamdeck as the new Shiny, and then dropping Steamdeck to focus on whatever the new technological shiny is after that.
The speculation for a while (and, frankly, the direction I’d love to see them go in) is that the work on the Deck was going to be a stepping stone to a standalone VR headset. Take what they learned in VR with the Index and then what they learned in portable PCs with the Deck and slap the two together to get a real Quest competitor out there.
There’ve even been numerous leaks over the years (even pre-Deck) about a standalone headset internally labeled “Deckard”.
The difference here is that the steamdeck is a pretty good success. This (and its successors) will guarantee their future. They’re be fools to drop it.
Hopefully I’m not being overly optimistic in agreeing. I love my Deck but am not impressed at all in the rest of the handheld market. Being stuck on Windows and not having necessary tools like the trackpads means that I’m not hopeful for the market if the Steam Deck doesn’t continue.
I think they’re building towards an Index/Steam Deck marriage. Idk if it’ll be the next gen or following another release cycle for both products but I think that is ultimately where they are driving towards.
Don’t see how you can marry those when can’t put them together into one device.
Half Life 3 the holographic board game
I think there’s a new Steam Deck coming. The old one could really benefit from faster PCIE speeds, among a few of other hardware upgrades.
Unlikely. APUs aren’t that much more powerful yet.
My guess would be Deckard (the rumored VR headset) or possibly a new steam machine. Longshot on that one though, I think.
Steam Machine seems obsolete as an idea since the SD’s release.
I don’t think so, with a “real” steam machine you’d not expect to have the same limitations you have with the deck. Something like the rumored Sarlak would be a great chip for it.
I really hope not since I just bought one.
I wouldn’t expect so, they said it would take a significant leap in processing for that to make sense. I don’t consider that to have happened.
I hope they are aware that fragmentation is an issue.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
So keep expectations firmly in check, but work submitted for Linux kernel 6.6 show something interesting from Valve.
Potentially a Steam Deck refresh or their new VR headset perhaps?
The note comes from Phoronix, who as usual goes over basically every little thing Linux kernel related.
They found work being pulled in for Linux kernel 6.6 sound updates, that includes additions for AMD Van Gogh, the chip used in the Steam Deck.
Considering the current SoC in the Steam Deck is named Aerith, a refresh of Sephiroth would continue their fun Final Fantasy inspired naming.
They could point to a lot of things: a Steam Deck refresh, the new VR headset we know they’re working on, some developer boards they use in-house or anything really.
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I guess this has a lot to do with Deckard which will be the mext VR which will be portable like Steam Deck.
