Steam Deck 2 could be way more powerful – and might feature an unexpected twist

techradar.com:

With the Steam Deck launch now kicking off, Valve is already thinking about the sequel to its compact gaming PC, and how that might pan out – with some interesting initial nuggets of info coming courtesy of Edge Magazine.

In the Edge interview (via GamesRadar: 1, 2) with Valve’s co-founder, Gabe Newell revealed that the idea with the Steam Deck 2 is to make it even more powerful – no shock there, really – but also to ensure the device offers new capabilities that push forward with its portable nature, and offer something that a desktop PC doesn’t.

And that apparently could be something along the lines of virtual reality.

Newell said: “The first step is to let you play the great games that exist today. The second iterations are going to be more about: what are the capabilities that mobile gives us, above and beyond what you would get in a traditional desktop or laptop gaming environment?”

And he further observed: “One of the things [Steam Deck] represents is battery-capable, high-performance horsepower that eventually you could use in VR applications as well. You can take the PC and build something that is much more transportable. We’re not really there yet, but this is a stepping stone.”

What’s also interesting is that Newell noted that to Valve’s surprise, the most expensive version of the Steam Deck – the one with 512GB of storage, and a premium anti-glare screen – was the most popular with gamers pre-ordering the device. And by a good margin, so it seems.

Newell said: “That’s an example of us being a little surprised by what our customers are telling us. They’re basically saying, ‘We would like an even more expensive version of this,’ in terms of horsepower capabilities or whatever. You know, that’s why we always love to