Valve Software dropped a surprise last month when it unveiled a new version of its handheld PC gaming device, the Steam Deck OLED.
After launching the original Steam Deck in February 2022, the team at Valve, based in Bellevue, Wash., had a running list of improvements it wanted to make, and it didn’t want customers to wait for a true second-generation Steam Deck.
That was a takeaway from a recent conversation GeekWire had with Lawrence Yang, a longtime designer and artist at Valve, who talked about the decision to launch a new version of the Steam Deck and lessons learned thus far from the company’s foray into handheld gaming.
“We knew that what we thought of as a true second-generation Steam Deck was years off, but as we looked at our wishlist and the technology available, we figured customers would appreciate these updates sooner rather than later,” Yang said.
The result is what Yang describes as “the definitive first-generation Steam Deck.”
I had a chance to test the 1TB model of the OLED Steam Deck ($549/659). When you put it head-to-head against the original, it’s a little better across the board. The most obvious upgrade for the OLED edition comes from its screen, which is bigger and significantly brighter.
The model is also a little lighter, with a better battery, a longer charging cable, and faster wireless connections. It’s a slight but noticeable improvement on the original in just about every category, from portability to charging time to its comfort factor. Using the Deck in close quarters like an airplane seat can still be a dubious proposition, and there are still a number of PC games that simply don’t work well on the tiny screen, but the OLED Deck does feel better to play.
The best thing about the Deck is and remains its price tag. It offers you a reasonably powerful gaming PC for a low cost up-front. I primarily use mine to bring multiplayer games with me to get-togethers, particularly head-to-head fighters.
If you’ve already got a Steam Deck, the OLED model isn’t worth trading in your current unit, but it’s a decent pickup if you’ve been waiting for an excuse.
The Steam Deck gives Valve a way to expand the audience for computer games, and runs the software for Valve’s digital gaming storefront Steam on a custom Linux-based OS. This lets you take the games in your Steam library on the road with you, playing them via the Deck’s built-in controls. Users can also use peripherals like USB hubs to connect their Decks to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard and use it like a Linux-based PC.
Failing all that, there’s nothing in place to keep tinkerers from wiping the default OS off of a new Steam Deck and installing their own software in its place.
Read more from our conversation with Yang, who joined Valve in 2015. The interview was edited for clarity.
GeekWire: What have you learned from the first year of the Steam Deck?
Yang: We’ve learned a bunch about how people have wanted to use their Steam Decks. Playing games, of course, but also doing homework, making music, and controlling robots. We’ve also seen how motivated players have been to mod their Steam Decks in both software and hardware to personalize their gaming experiences.
But most of all, we’ve heard how much people have loved their Steam Decks. The team is beyond excited to hear from happy Deck customers and we’re constantly working to make it a better experience.
We love hearing feedback, and this has helped us ship over 300 software updates specifically for Steam Deck, which include a combination of bug fixes and feature updates. This hasn’t stopped, and we have more software updates in the pipe for both Steam Deck LCD and Steam Deck OLED.
From a market perspective, the Deck has always struck me as an excellent “gateway product” for PC gaming and/or Linux. Was that a deliberate intention by the team at Valve?
One of the goals we set out to accomplish with Steam Deck was to make it as easy and comfortable to use as possible. This includes removing as many of the normal barriers to PC gaming as we could. So things like the user interface, software updates, driver updates… we didn’t want people to worry about [any of that] at all.
In a way, we wanted to take some of the best “pick up and play” aspects of consoles and implement them in a PC handheld device. We’ve seen in feedback that many view the user experience as one of the top features of Steam Deck.
And to your point, we’ve also heard that Steam Deck is the first PC for a bunch of players.
What were you hoping to accomplish with the Deck? When I attended the live preview back in 2021, there was a sort of freewheeling “why not” air in the room, but I’m curious if that’s still the case.
At a high level, we were looking for ways to make customers happy and provide more ways to play the games in their Steam libraries. Steam Deck allows you to play PC games without having to be tethered to the same PC you’ve been working at all day.
Are you still working on game compatibility on a case-by-case basis?
Yes, game compatibility testing is ongoing, with a mix of new titles, popular upcoming titles, and the rest of the Steam catalog.
[Errata: The OLED Steam Deck’s screen is 0.5″ larger than the original model’s.]
