Don't expect a souped-up second-gen Steam Deck soon
Hardware improvements likely to focus on screen and battery life.
Valve is unlikely to soup up the graphical prowess of its Steam Deck in time for the PC gaming handheld's second generation, the company has indicated.
Instead, the next version of Steam Deck is far more likely to see hardware improvements centered around its screen and battery capacity.
Speaking to The Verge, Steam Deck engineers suggested Valve was keen to stick with one singal performance point for the handheld for the time being - it's simple to understand Steam Deck verified status - to avoid muddying the waters.
"Right now the fact that all the Steam Decks can play the same games and that we have one target for users to understand what kind of performance level to expect when you're playing and for developers to understand what to target... there's a lot of value in having that one spec," Steam Deck designer Pierre-Loup Griffais said.
"I think we'll opt to keep the one performance level for a little bit longer, and only look at changing the performance level when there is a significant gain to be had."
In the same interview, Valve stated it was keen to make a Steam Controller 2 happen - though with the company focused on Steam Deck at the moment, there were no plans yet set in stone.
Valve has spent much of 2022 working through its backlog of Steam Deck pre-orders with some success, and as of October you can now purchase one without having to make a reservation.
All three versions of the device - the £349 64GB model, the £459 256GB model, and the £569 512GB model - are available to purchase immediately in the UK with an estimated delivery time of 1-2 weeks... Royal Mail strikes providing.