Valve May Be Working on a Handheld Steam Console

Do you remember when Valve made a valiant attempt to take over the living room gaming space with their Steam Machines? Well, if not, you’re far from alone. Steam Machines were essentially a hybrid of sorts in that they could run pretty much any game in Steam’s immensely vast library (as a console would be able to do with its own library), but weren’t PCs strictly speaking. They ran Valve’s own proprietary, Linux-based SteamOS rather than a more mainstream operating system like Windows.

The price of a Steam Machine could be anywhere from four hundred to six thousand USD depending on how powerful you wanted your rig to be. Of course, Steam Machines unfortunately never really caught on, so they were discontinued a few years ago. That’s why you can’t really find them for sale today outside of the secondhand market. Some among our readers might recall that I managed to snag a Steam Controller just a matter of days before they, too, went the way of the dodo.

According to multiple outlets (including SteamDB and PC Gamer), Valve might be taking another shot at making a console specifically intended for Steam games. There’s a bit of a twist this time around, however, because many of those same sources suspect Valve’s next hardware offering could take the form of a handheld.

In fact, Ars Technica reports that they’ve apparently been able to confirm by talking with their own sources that Valve has something in the works. Ars Technica refers to the prospect as what could be Valve’s entry into the so-called “Switch-like PC” category of machines. “If you want to buy a similar device today, you’re largely looking at products from Chinese OEMs like GPD, One-Netbook, and Aya, who have slapped ultramobile PC processors and parts into a Switch-like chassis,” said Ars Technica’s Sam Machkovech.

What has really surprised me about this whole scenario is that if Valve can manage to wrangle together a supply chain for such a device, many of the outlets I’ve mentioned thus far speculate that Valve’s next console could see a release by the end of 2021. Of course, the fact remains that unless (and until) Valve gives us more to go on, we know absolutely nothing about this device or what CEO Gabe Newell may have recently been hinting at.

I, for one, would love to see a handheld Steam console from Valve, especially if it’s well-built and as portable as the word “handheld” suggests. However, I share my main concern with many people when it comes to new gaming hardware. That is to say, if the price isn’t right, Valve could have another Steam Machine-style fiasco on its hands. No one wants to see that, so I sincerely hope Valve can work its magic and bring this project to fruition with a matching appropriate price tag.