I'm tempering my anticipation with a little reality about how likely a Steam Deck v2 is, given Valve's track record in hardware It's also eye-opening just how good the Proton system for playing Windows games on Valve's custom Linux OS is imperfect, certainly, but still achieving a level of compatibility unimaginable only a few years ago. It's a remarkable proof of concept, showing that PC gaming in what is effectively a 'beefy Switch' form factor can work very well given sufficient focus and attention to the quality of the hardware, both from a technical and from a design standpoint. In many important ways, indeed, the Steam Deck is a milestone - albeit one that's only trickling out very slowly into the hands of consumers, though Valve can hardly take the blame for the world's ongoing problems with semiconductor manufacturing and supply chains.

The launch, or quasi-launch, of the Steam Deck should therefore be a major milestone for gaming - a handheld PC gaming platform that's by all accounts head and shoulders above every previous effort at creating such a device, backed up by the considerable muscle of the company that's effectively dominated the distribution of PC games for the past two decades. It is also one of the most successful platform holders in the world, if you consider Steam to be a platform - which it is, at least to some extent. Valve, when it puts its mind to it, makes some of the best gaming hardware in the world.

How good is the steam deck