Valve has no plans for a Steam Deck "subscription service at this time"
It is, however, open to working with third-party providers.
Valve boss Gabe Newell has confirmed that the company has no plans to develop a first-party game pass system for its new handheld, Steam Deck.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Newell said the company saw no need in "building a subscription service at this time", stating "I don't think it's something that we need to do ourselves".
Interestingly, though, while Newell doesn't envisage Valve developing its own subscription system, he did, however, recognise the popularity of those like Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, and said he was open to working with partners to "get [them] on Steam".
"I don't think it's something that we think we need to do ourselves, building a subscription service at this time," Newell said.
"But for their customers, it's clearly a popular option, and we'd be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam."
As Matt summarised for us yesterday, Steam Deck is, of course, available now for those that joined last year's queue early enough, and it's looking like a bit of a good 'un. Digital Foundry has just shared its thoughts on Valve's fledging portable gaming PC, calling the device "highly impressive" despite room for improvement.
ICYMI, you can now check your Steam library for Steam Deck compatibility.