Valve officially announced their own handheld console

It is finished! The rumored handheld console from Valve has finally been announced! The device for players wishing to play Steam games on a portable device will be called the Steam Deck and was implemented on SteamOS, which was implemented on the basis of the Linux operating system. A corresponding page has appeared on Steam, which brings players up to date and offers to pre-order the Steam Deck.

The main features of the Steam Deck are the ability to run absolutely any game from the Steam library and support for other functions of the Steam launcher, including the ability to see the list of friends, change it or chat with friends, visit the store, and more. The handheld console will have a Proton Compatibility Layer built in to help eliminate the need to create custom versions of ported games from your PC to the Steam Deck. In addition, in the SteamOS version of the Steam Deck, the overlay has been changed to make it easier to use on a small screen.

The official Steam page states that Valve's handheld console will have three versions of the Steam Deck, which will differ in the amount of on-board storage. The choice will be provided with versions with 64 GB on board, 256 GB and 512 GB. The built-in memory will not restrict players from expanding at will. With the help of microSD, users will be able to independently expand the amount of memory that can be used to store games on the Steam Deck. All of the above console versions will have the same processors, but different power ratings. AMD devices using Zen 2 and RDNA 2 will be used everywhere, the frequency of the central processor will be in the 2.4-3.5 GHz range, and the graphics device will output from 1 to 1.6 GHz. The RAM on the Steam Deck will be 16 GB, and the screen through which the players will contemplate what is happening in the titles will have a 7 "diagonal with a resolution of 1280x800 with a refresh rate of 60 Hz.

A docking station will also be available on sale, which will allow players to connect the console to a TV or monitor, but it will be sold separately from the console.

The end of 2021 will see the first wave of Steam Deck sales in countries such as the United States. Canada, UK and European Union countries. Now representatives of the CIS countries do not have the opportunity to purchase a portable device from Valve. Steam Deck prices will range from $ 399 to $ 649.

According to the community, this price is quite democratic and very acceptable, and the chief executive of Valve and one of its founders, Gabe Newell, spoke about why Valve decided to specify such a price tag. In an interview with IGN, he revealed that the low price of the device is a critical aspect for the Steam Deck. Valve embarked on such an experiment in order to see how the device can perform in the international market, and Gabe Newell regards this strategy as aggressive. In addition, he said that the more important task of the Valve team is to make the Steam Deck as functional as possible and very productive.

Valve predicts quite optimistic sales of its handheld device. The company wants to sell millions of devices and enter a new market for itself.