Is Steam Deck 2 secretly the next-gen PlayStation handheld? Valve and Sony's rumored partnership could make it happen, and I'm all for it
Gaming handhelds are picking up steam, with Microsoft teaming up with Asus to deliver a ROG Xbox Ally and Ally X this year, the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS acting as a spiritual successor to the Steam Deck and the AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme in the MSI Claw A8 expected to pack some serious power. Oh, and not to mention the Nintendo Switch 2.
Then there's Sony with its PlayStation Portal. Streaming PS5 games on what is basically a DualSense controller with a screen slapped in the middle has its merits, but it's not exactly the next-gen PlayStation handheld fans have been waiting for.
But what if the rumored Steam Deck 2 could act as the next PlayStation handheld? Well, considering speculation surrounding a subtle but clear Sony and Valve partnership (as per YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead), it isn't out of the realm of possibility.
In fact, considering Sony's support of its own first-party titles on Steam already, the Steam Deck 2 could be Sony's answer to a next-gen PlayStation handheld.
There's now a good selection of the latest PlayStation-first games on PC, with God of War Ragnarök, Ghost of Tsushima, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Helldivers 2, Returnal, Spider-Man and the recent Stellar Blade making their way over to Steam.
Much of this is thanks to Sony's own Nixxes Software, who take on porting PS games to PC (and masterfully, too). The developers were behind bringing The Last of Us Part II to PC, and it was Naughty Dog who told me that TLOU Part II is "perfect" for Steam Deck.
And yes, it is Steam Deck verified, with the developers prioritizing this to make sure Deck owners could play this graphically demanding game on the go. But that's not the only title that's been verified, and you'll find nearly all PS games are fit to be played on Steam Deck — and it shows Sony's support.
Of course, Sony would want its games to work well on PC, as a terribly optimized game wouldn't go down well. But it's clear PlayStation offers big support for its games on Valve's Steam Deck, and on Steam in general, since it's the only other platform that delivers PlayStation exclusives.
With this in mind, having a more powerful Steam Deck 2 to play the latest PlayStation titles would be hugely beneficial, and it makes Valve's rumored gaming handheld somewhat of a de facto next-gen PlayStation handheld.
Plus, with the now-leaked AMD "Magnus" Zen 6 APU tipped to power the rumored PS6, and possibly a form of this chip on the Steam Deck 2 or Valve's rumored Steam Box, there's a lot of crossover to allow PlayStation games to run more easily on Steam platforms.
For now, this is all just wishful thinking, but there have been murmurs of a next PlayStation handheld coming. And apparently, it's set to launch alongside the PS6.
I'm all for a Steam Deck 2 being the way to play PS titles, but if Sony has another PS Vita up its sleeve that can run games natively, then I'll welcome it with open arms. Rumor has it that it may even support AI upscaling tech, similar to the PS5 Pro's PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution).
As noted by leaker KeplerL2, the next PlayStation handheld is expected to arrive with 16GB of DDR5X RAM, a third of the base PS5's memory bandwidth (4MB of L2 cache but with 16 MB of MALL cache) and will be powered by an AMD chip. That's yet another nod to AMD's upcoming chipsets.
Now, there's no official word on Sony bringing out another handheld, and we may not end up seeing one after all. But if that's the case, perhaps the Steam Deck 2 could fill its shoes instead.
And with Valve making sure its next hardware release offers a big enough performance leap (via The Verge), playing PlayStation games on a Steam Deck 2 is sure to be a treat.
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