In 2021 Valve announced the Steam Deck – a handheld device similar to the Switch that allows you to play your Steam games anywhere. The device has a lot of features including a 7″ touchscreen, the capability to connect external displays and a quick resume/suspend feature that allows you to pause and resume your game. The device will be available in February 2022, starting at $399.
In ‘s initial review Sean described the Deck as a “glorious muddle,” but soon things improved. It became The 2022’s favorite gadget with the unprecedented support of Valve. Nearly one year after its launch, explained that no other company had anything like it and we increased our score. Here is the latest interview we did with Valve on what’s coming next.
The video is unidentified, but it mentions some flaws in Steam Deck, such as the lack of controller support for games outside of Steam. Even the touch keyboard is not optimized for portable devices, and it presents the concept of suggesting some suggestive keyboard navigation. The video also mentions that many windows-based games work properly on Steam Deck. Valve provides numerous drivers for Windows on Steam Deck. However, Windows 11 UI has not been optimized for handheld devices.
Dorothy Feng is a Microsoft employee who created a copy of the Windows Handheld mode. The keypad was also optimized for touch and controlled by a controller. She also redesigned the taskbar.
They have already worked with a group of developers called SWICD (Steam Deck Windows controller driver) and found a way to use Steam Deck over Windows.
Microsoft has never ordered this project, but they have always been a fan of Steam Deck. Valve and MS have worked together on xCloud, Xbox Game Pass and other projects.
Microsoft is not a new company
Microsoft is not unfamiliar with the idea of modifying Windows to meet gaming needs. Microsoft has used a modified version of Windows for its Xbox gaming consoles. The company will not be the first to make changes to the Windows interface to fit the screen of a handheld portable gaming console.
Handheld Mode will replace Windows’ native desktop interface. According to the report, the new gaming shell interface is optimized for a Steam Deck console that’s similar to Android launcher.
