Valve’s Steam Deck hasn’t changed the world since its 2022 release, but it did set a new precedent and opened up a new PC gaming niche. It’s a charming device, and Valve celebrates this fact in its official Steam Deck booklet.
Valve’s official Steam Deck booklet goes into detail on the design process and the key decisions made when developing the handheld. It appears to have been written before the release ofthe upgraded OLED model, seemingly as part of the Asian region release push, which means it’s a tad out-of-date in some respects. At the same time, however, Valve’s vision for the Steam Deck’s future is practically identical.
The entireSteam Deck bookletis, first and foremost, a marketing device designed primarily to nudge the reader into purchasing the device. If you already own a Deck (or two, as it were), however, it’s a fun bit of bonus insight into what Valve was trying to do with the device to begin with.
“[The Steam Deck] is meant to be upgraded and modified,” says the booklet. “Its system software is open and accessible to users. And the games that run on it are modifiable, and are available from many different storefronts. All of these attributes are intentional choices, and are themselves a source of innovation and value for Steam users.”
You don’t need to look very hard to figure out this is the case, either. Deck users have been making extremely handy and interesting plugins for the device from day one, andwe’ve featured many of them right here at Destructoid. Some of the mods available for the Deck aresomewhat questionable, granted, but that’s just how it goes when you let the community go wild. It’s for the better, honest.
“To us, PC gaming is about openness and customer choice, so Steam provides as many ways for you to customize and personalize your own experience as possible,” explains the booklet. This is just one of the many tidbits of wisdom available in it, driving home the entire gist of the device: a total democratization of gaming as a whole.
This is admittedly too high of a concept to be realized with just one new device on the market, but it’s an admirable approach. Where else would it come from other than from Valve itself, right?
The booklet is outdated, as it seems to reference older specs and titles. It claims that the Steam Deck sports the single most powerful handheld-tier APU on the market, for example, but this hasn’t been the casefor a while now. Further, it cites Apex Legends as one of the games playable on the device, and this, too, issadly no longer the case.
Even with these caveats in mind, the booklet reminds me of those old hi-fi promo materials you’d sometimes get in the newspapers: it’s an optimistic and insightful look behind the scenes that merits interest, even if it is just a fancy ad. Should you still be interested in the Steam Deck now that theSwitch 2 is on the horizon? I don’t know, but I’m still having loads of fun with it, andthat counts for something!
