Valve Releases Steam Deck Prototype Images Dating to 2019

gamerant.com:

One of the developers who worked on the Steam Deck has been sharing images on Twitter depicting various stages of the handheld device during the prototype stage of its development. While Valve has a shaky history when it comes to hardware, its portable machine has been proving itself worthy, not only as a console capable of playing Steam games but as a versatile system capable of being used in a number of ways, essentially making it a PC that people can use on the go.

In fact, the device has been enjoying such success that Valve is interested in making new versions of the Steam Deck at some point in the future. A follow-up is likely to implement improvements on the current models, but there have also been some suggesting that the company could even create a Deck 2. Of course, it's too early to say at this stage, but it certainly seems like the developer has plans moving forward.

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As for the current iteration, Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais has uploaded a couple of photographs showing what the Steam Deck looked like in the early stages of development. What's interesting about it is that some of the prototypes go back to mid-2019. It also appears the prototypes are arrayed in the order of when they were built, as the last model shown at the bottom of the second photo looks a lot closer to the final product. Earlier versions have a similar design to the one that was released, with the two touchpads on either side of the screen, as well as the buttons and D-pad. However, some of the models appear to have been made with buttons on the left instead of a directional pad.

Things have certainly been escalating for the portable gaming device, with Steam Decks even being sent out early. Valve