No yearly refreshes for Steam Deck as Valve reveals it's waiting for "generational" CPU leaps

[zohaibahd]

Forward-looking: Valve is making it clear that they're not interested in releasing yearly updates with only minor upgrades for its handhelds. For the Steam Deck follow-up, they have something much bigger in mind: a "generational leap" in performance without sacrificing battery life.

In a recent interview, Valve's Lawrence Yang rejected the idea of bumping specs annually like some competitors. He said the company has no plans to release new versions of the same console each year, as they don't see a reason to do so. Yang argued that rushing out frequent refreshes with only slight improvements is "unfair" to consumers who recently purchased the previous model.

Instead of this kind of minor annual tune-up, Valve intends to hold off until there is a genuine generational jump in power before releasing the Steam Deck 2, according to Yang. He confirmed they aim to wait for a significant compute upgrade that doesn't compromise battery life before shipping a true second generation.

The original Steam Deck launched back in February 2022, powered by the AMD Zen 2 4c/8t CPU. While it did receive an upgrade November 2023 in the form of an OLED version, the improvements were mostly limited to the display and battery.

That's not to say that Valve is resting on its laurels, waiting for the next major mobile APU release from AMD/Intel. In a separate interview with Press Start, Yang teased that work on a Steam Deck sequel is officially underway and that they will apply "learnings" from the original model.

As for when this generational leap will actually arrive, the timing remains uncertain, but there are some potential clues on the horizon. AMD's all-new Zen 5 CPU architecture and RDNA 3.5 GPU silicon are expected to debut in upcoming gaming handhelds soon. With those chips now available, anticipation is building for the Ryzen Z2 series.

Valve's ambitions extend beyond hardware, though. The company is taking steps to enhance the overall gaming experience for Deck owners and potentially the broader PC gaming community. For instance, the Arch Linux team recently announced a collaboration with Valve to streamline the Arch Linux distribution that powers SteamOS.

Additionally, Valve seems interested in expanding the reach of SteamOS to garner more developer support, with hints suggesting that a general SteamOS distribution release could be in the works.

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No yearly refreshes for Steam Deck as Valve reveals it's waiting for "generational" CPU leaps

 

[yRaz]

I hope they make a board standard so you can just swap them in and out of a chassis.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

They would be really late and behind if they were shipping annual updates.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

CPU wise? Yeah, thats gonna take awhile. GPU wise? The Steam deck is already way behind current chips. The z1 extreme would offer at least a 50% performance bump.

 

[Burty117]

CPU wise? Yeah, thats gonna take awhile. GPU wise? The Steam deck is already way behind current chips. The z1 extreme would offer at least a 50% performance bump.

The Z1 Extreme is that much faster whilest using more than double the power (15 vs 35 watts).

I think Valve are waiting for a substantial performance increase at the low power, Z1 Extreme isn't much different when dropped down to 15 watts.

 

[Dimitriid]

It honestly makes sense: Unless something fairly radical happens like Valve switching years to make their own ARM based custom processor they have to wait for maybe 3 or 4 generations (From the time they launched) minimum to get a little bit better power with a 20-30% increase in GPU performance.

I think long term they might consider an ARM based solution: after all everybody said Linux gaming couldn't be done but Valve investing heavy on it was exactly the push it needed. I think something similar could be achieved for ARM gaming: it's just crap right now but with a couple years and a couple millions it could get Valve way better numbers.

But for right now? They need for AMD to catch up to Lunar Lake in efficiency or for intel to catch up to AMD in integrated graphics. It honestly looks like getting solid drivers might be tougher than AMD getting together a big improvement on CPU efficiency but we'll see: right now both companies seem to busy with AI to care about investing on such things heavily.

 

[DanteSmith]

You don't need a much faster CPU, just much more efficient processes, iGPU, DRAM.
4nm and LPDDR6 would already make a world of difference with a slightly larger iGPU.

 

[umeng2002]

Yearly models of iPhones has spoiled the tech world since 2007. Not everything can or should move at yearly upgrade cycles.

 

[gamerk2]

The Z1 Extreme is that much faster whilest using more than double the power (15 vs 35 watts).

I think Valve are waiting for a substantial performance increase at the low power, Z1 Extreme isn't much different when dropped down to 15 watts.

Ding.

It's a mobile platform; power draw is just as, if not more important than performance.

 

[Watzupken]

CPU wise? Yeah, thats gonna take awhile. GPU wise? The Steam deck is already way behind current chips. The z1 extreme would offer at least a 50% performance bump.

All new APUs are using more power to deliver higher performance. There is no free lunch here. Even with an improved efficiency, Lunar Lake needs something like 28W or higher to feed those CPU and GPU cores. But to be honest, it will be a long wait before we get advance nodes that allow for “generation leap” if we consider the power constraints. Probably moving to ARM SOCs may help.

 

[ZedRM]

And while Valve is waiting, the competition is leaving the deck in the dust.

 

[scoffer]

Ok boys. So instead,please make a really good version of Steam OS that I can use 24/7 on my pc. Then I can kick Windoze to the kerb.

 

[ZedRM]

So instead,please make a really good version of Steam OS that I can use 24/7 on my pc.

This is a very good idea. Why haven't they done this?

 

[kiwigraeme]

They probably have some more inside knowledge
Personally I will wait to see Zen 6 3D before upgrading my PC

I think the whole little engine that could is in a state of real flux , many players, lots of progress.
Eg an update now will be bested straight away in year

Plus more efficient screen tech is coming - eg brighter OLEDS for less power, add in battery tech etc

Really lots of games now playable, no hurry, Nintendo does hurry it's Switch 2 , nor Sony . yes not the same.

but quote from "Harry met Sally" badly remembered don't go the airport to send off or meet girlfriend as they will always expect it . Ie why we not getting V3 now

 

[Puiu]

And while Valve is waiting, the competition is leaving the deck in the dust.

Where? I haven't seen that happen yet.

 

[MrJelly]

"rushing out frequent refreshes with only slight improvements is "unfair" to consumers who recently purchased the previous model"

This could be applied to Steam Deck LCD and OLED. There was 1.5 year gap but LCD was not widely available from the start and got its first sale only in 2023 when OLED was released so many people bought LCD just a few months before OLED's release.

 

[Rudyduu]

The Steamdeck has been on the same hardware too long to consider buying it now with an unknown follow up date. If someone announces a much better handheld for release in 2025, I'll just buy that one, if they said the Steamdeck 2 was coming out in 2026 I wouldn't buy anything until then. Not knowing when the Steamdeck will be improved is stopping me from buying one.

 

[Burty117]

The Steamdeck has been on the same hardware too long to consider buying it now with an unknown follow up date. If someone announces a much better handheld for release in 2025, I'll just buy that one, if they said the Steamdeck 2 was coming out in 2026 I wouldn't buy anything until then. Not knowing when the Steamdeck will be improved is stopping me from buying one.

That is some pretty strange logic, you plan out your purchases 2 years in advance?

If I planned on buying some tech in two years time, I’m fully aware it won’t be the most powerful thing by then, because 2 years has gone by…

 

[kira setsu]

If you're playing games on steam deck(any of these portables really) are specs really that important to you? they run games at like 720p/30fps on the lowest settings. maybe even lower than that for the newer titles I bet.

I respect valve for not banging out iterations of the same device with a hint of upgrades, as these comments above show it would be very easy for them to fleece gamers out of their money.

 

[VaRmeNsI]

Most games can run well on the steamdeck if optimized correctly.

 

[ZedRM]

Where? I haven't seen that happen yet.

So you're not paying attention to the market then? ASUS, Ayaneo, Ayn, MSI and so on. All of them fully supporting the Windows Steam client and NOT suffering the compatibility problems of Linux. Many of them easily eclipse the specs of the SteamDeck already and with newer models coming this holiday season that have much better specs, the SteamDeck is going to seem very dated, very soon.

So, you were saying?

 

[Puiu]

So you're not paying attention to the market then? ASUS, Ayaneo, Ayn, MSI and so on. All of them fully supporting the Windows Steam client and NOT suffering the compatibility problems of Linux. Many of them easily eclipse the specs of the SteamDeck already and with newer models coming this holiday season that have much better specs, the SteamDeck is going to seem very dated, very soon.

So, you were saying?

None of those had any real success.

The ROG Ally is probably the best one out of the bunch but it still pales in comparison sales-wise, probably because of how expensive it is.

Better should not mean just "more powerful hardware". By that logic people should have loved the PS5 Pro...

If they release a new one next year then that is fine. Let them cook.

 

[ZedRM]

None of those had any real success.

Your opinion. Also not the point. Sales of Windows handhelds have been reasonable given current economics conditions.

Better should not mean just "more powerful hardware".

True. It should also mean better compatibility. Windows has this. And while Valve has made good progress into making compatibility better of their version of Linux, they're still a long way off from what many would call good. There are still 9 titles in my personal library that will not run on the SteamDeck. They do run on Windows.

 

[Puiu]

Your opinion. Also not the point. Sales of Windows handhelds have been reasonable given current economics conditions.


True. It should also mean better compatibility. Windows has this. And while Valve has made good progress into making compatibility better of their version of Linux, they're still a long way off from what many would call good. There are still 9 titles in my personal library that will not run on the SteamDeck. They do run on Windows.

I'm comparing handles, not the general market. And the "economic conditions" are fine.

It's ok to have alternatives, but let's not beat around the bush, Steam's success comes from the amazing build quality for its price. It's good that Windows has better compatibility, as it should. But, for example, the lack of the trackpads that you can map from the Steam Deck can be felt on the Ally in games that don't have great controller/touchscreen support. These trackpads should become a standard feature hopefully in future handhelds.

 

[ZedRM]

I'm comparing handles, not the general market.

Semantics.

And the "economic conditions" are fine.

What rock have you been under? The general economy, world-wide is in the slumps.

It's ok to have alternatives, but let's not beat around the bush, Steam's success comes from the amazing build quality for its price.

I wasn't arguing quality, though to be fair, the SteamDeck is not without it's problems.

But, for example, the lack of the trackpads that you can map

Also semantics. Those trackpads are nearly useless. And yes, I've used a SteamDeck.

These trackpads should become a standard feature hopefully in future handhelds.

Another opinion. No thank you!