A faster, more powerful Steam Deck is years away

The Steam Deck 2 upgrade is happening at some point in the future but it won’t be anytime soon. According to a new report from The Verge who spoke with Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais, the Steam Deck successor is years away.

One of the main sticking points Valve has about releasing a follow-up machine is battery life. The company doesn’t want to push out a second gen Steam Deck with a lot more power if it means the battery life tanks. And that’s a good thing. Because the battery life on the current Steam Deck can already be very unappealing if you’re playing a demanding game. There are of course tweaks that can be made. And in doing so you can achieve longer lasting battery life for a lengthier, more enjoyable gaming session.

To that end, Valve wants to get things right and see things progress before it moves onto what’s next in its handheld gaming PC.

A Steam Deck 2 upgrade won’t happen until at least late 2025

Years away means years away. Specifically though, gamers are looking at late 2025 or even later before they can expect to see a second Steam Deck. Precisely for the reasons mentioned above.

It’s not just battery life though that Valve is focused on. Sure it doesn’t want performance to come at the cost of battery life. That’s admirable. Not to mention unquestionably the right choice. But Valve says it also wants to make sure it’s only developing a more powerful Steam Deck when it’s possible to make a significant enough leap in performance. And right now that isn’t possible.

Of course, this doesn’t rule out the possibility of a refreshed Steam Deck that simply has better battery life. And even if that’s all Valve did for the foreseeable future, it would still be a big win for handheld gaming enthusiasts.