Rumor: Valve making a handheld Steampal

[the-pi-guy]

On Tuesday, SteamDB operator Pavel Djundik spotted the change in Steam's code, which pointed to a new device named "SteamPal." The name is a derivative of a previously discovered code term, "Neptune," which began appearing in September of last year and came with a "Neptune Optimized Games" string. At the time, curious code crawlers thought this discovery referred to some type of controller.

This device is very likely the subject of an announcement Valve co-founder Gabe Newell hinted to in a panel conversation at a New Zealand school earlier this month. There, he dodged a question about Valve's plans for future console video games with an indirect answer: "You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year... and it won't be the answer you expect. You'll say, 'Ah-ha! Now I get what he was talking about.'"

In recent years, the "Switch-like PC" category has exploded. In early 2020, Alienware revealed its first Switch-like gaming PC, but the "concept" device has not yet turned into a commercial product. If you want to buy a similar device today, you're largely looking at products from Chinese OEMs like GPD, One-Netbook, and Aya, who have slapped ultramobile PC processors and parts into a Switch-like chassis.

The SteamPal will go a similar route, with a system on a chip likely coming from either Intel or AMD, not Nvidia.

The SteamPal's Switch-like properties will include the option to "dock" to larger monitors via its USB Type-C port, but I don't have firm details on exactly how that connection will work or whether Valve has any plans for an eventual SteamPal dock.

 

Era

399USD according to a reddit user who was already talking about this 2 weeks ago.

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[Legend]

Wonder if this will fair better than any other steam hardware.