Steam Deck

This new version of Steam serves as more evidence that Valve is slowly bringing all the pieces together for PC games on truly mobile hardware. Valve is undertaking this work as the company’s Steam Frame headset uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset derived from smartphones. The company wants its Linux-based SteamOS platform to run directly on this device. So it’s clear that the newly released Steam client for Linux Arm is the latest piece of the puzzle.

There doesn’t seem to be a big difference between Steam on Linux and an Android app like GameNative in terms of compatibility. I also didn’t get the impression that there was a significant performance delta between the two platforms, but this is only based on my limited experience. However, I do appreciate that GameNative gives you easier access to various settings, allowing me to quickly swap out drivers, switch between graphical wrappers, and tweak the translation tools. By contrast, the Steam client doesn’t place these options within easy reach, if they do at all.

Image 1 of 3 Valve's Steam Controller launched at $99 via Steam, and, so far, remains the same price. In the United Kingdom, that amounts to £85, including sales tax. At launch, the controller was available on a first-come, first-served basis until it sold out. Now, in May 2026, you'll need a Steam account to place a reservation before you have a chance to buy one. Delivery times vary by region and the time of the order. I placed my Steam Controller order in the UK on May 4, when it became available, and it arrived from its European shipping source in the Netherlands after 6 working days. Valv

Image 1 of 2 My initial hands-on impressions of the Steam Controller were good, as it sits comfortably in my hands with a familiar weight of 0.64 lbs (292 g). I usually play with Microsoft's official Xbox controllers that were bundled with my Series X|S consoles, each weighing 0.63 lbs (287 g) with AA batteries or 0.52 lbs (240 g) without them if I'm using a permanently connected USB-C cable. Despite the placement of the prominent touchpads, my palms don't accidentally graze them when I use the analog sticks or face buttons. It's admittedly something I was concerned about when I first saw this