Steam Deck

Overview

The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer produced by Valve Corporation, designed to run games available on its Steam storefront. Built upon the experiences gained from Valve's earlier ventures with the original 2015 Steam Machine and the Steam Controller, the Steam Deck integrates a custom AMD APU and SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system. The Steam Deck represents Valve's pivot towards a fully in-house hardware development approach, following the challenges faced with Steam Machines' reliance on OEMs and the requirement for native Linux game support.

Since its release in February 2022, the Steam Deck has garnered significant attention for its widespread adoption and versatility, including support for both native Linux games and those running through Proton, a compatibility layer for Windows games. Additionally, the Steam Deck features a desktop mode and allows users to install third-party Linux applications. The device has seen multiple revisions, including the introduction of OLED screen models in November 2023. Despite criticism regarding battery life, the Steam Deck has achieved notable commercial success, selling millions of units and influencing the market with its approach to portable gaming, and has spurred interest in similar handheld gaming computers.

Specifications

Developer

Valve Corporation

Type

Handheld gaming computer

Released

NA February 25, 2022; EU February 25, 2022; AS December 17, 2022 WW November 16, 2023 (OLED) AU November 19, 2024

Discontinued

LCD: December 19, 2025

Media

Digital distribution

Processor

Quad-core Zen 2 with 8 threads @ 2.4–3.5 GHz

Graphics

RDNA 2 w/ 8x CUs @ 1–1.6 GHz (1–1.6 TFLOPS FP32).

Memory

LCD: 16 GB unified LPDDR5-5500 @ 5500 MT/s (88 GB/s) , OLED: 16 GB unified LPDDR5X-8533 @ 6400 MT/s (102.4 GB/s)

Storage

LCD: 64 GB eMMC, 256 GB or , OLED: 512 GB or 1 TB NVMe SSD (PCIe 3.0 x4)

Sound

Stereo speakers from DSP, Headphone jack

Connectivity

USB-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 and DisplayPort 1.4 modes , LCD: Bluetooth 5.0, IEEE 802.11ac-2013, Wi-Fi 5 (2.4 & 5 GHz) , OLED: Bluetooth 5.3, IEEE 802.11ax, WiFi 6E (2.4, 5, & 6 GHz)

Online service

Steam

Manufacturer

Valve

Games

469 Steam Deck games are written up here, with trophies, patches and what still works online.

See the Steam Deck games

Sources

• Wikipedia overview and specifications
• Steam_Deck_(front).png
• Close view of Steam Deck D-pad and analogue stick (cropped).jpg Liam Dawe/GamingOnLinux CC BY-SA 4.0

The overview is adapted from Wikipedia and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Checked October 2026.