This morning Valve announced the Steam Deck, revealing information like its specs in an interview with IGN. The device is like a handheld console similar to the Switch, but will run PC games from your Steam library.

The console is set to launch in December 2021, and you can make reservations via The Steam Deck website. The initial wave will only release in the US, Canada, EU and UK, however, so the rest of us will have to wait until 2022 for more the handheld to become available here

One impressive thing to note is that unlike the NVIDIA Shield or Steam’s Steam Link service, the Steam Deck won’t be streaming games from your PC. Instead, the console will run your games on the device itself, meaning you won’t have to worry about things like latency. Its specs are also on par with the PS4 and Xbox One, running at 720p, so you reportedly won’t have to worry about performance issues with most games.

Steam Deck Specs

According to Valve, the Steam Deck will basically be a PC, being able to run anything a PC can. 16GB Ram already puts it at a pretty luxurious stature, while IGN described it as being able to play games like Doom Eternal and Death Stranding with no issues. With the console’s custom OS you’re able to even run Xbox Game Pass, giving the console a large library of games to play on the go.

Naturally, its price will definitely give some people pause. The lowest-end model, the 64GB one, is roughly the price of a Nintendo Switch in Malaysia when converted 1:1, while the 512GB model is closer to the price of a PS5.

PC Gaming In The Palm Of Your Hand

Naturally, as a result of running one of the largest PC gaming platforms, there’s certain options that they just had to include with the Steam deck. these include mod support for the Steam Workshop, as well as customizable settings letting you run your games for performance or visuals to maximize the use of the Steam Deck specs.

Valve have mentioned the handheld has a 5-6 hour battery life if you’re only running your games at 30fps, though expect it to be closer to 4 hours on a regular play session.

Steam Deck Vs Nintendo Switch

Naturally, it’s easy to compare the Steam Deck to the premier handheld console, the Nintendo Switch. Valve seems to have been paying attention to criticisms of the Switch, with the Steam Deck having multiple wishlist Switch features like a built-in microphone and a working browser.

As mentioned earlier, the customizable options also means you’ll be able to run your games at higher frame rates like you would on PC, so having the 60fps version of most games is definitely a plus point for the console.

According to IGN’s interview a dock is also planned for the Deck, letting you even plug the Deck into a bigger display, making it the successor to the Steambox, Valve’s previous attempt at making a PC console. No release date or other features were teased about this dock, such as whether or not it would include the Switch OLED’s built-in Ethernet port.

The Deck also offers a more bizarre control scheme, with D-pad buttons next to its analog sticks rather than below or above them, like every other console. It also has track pads, which you can use for when analog sticks just don’t feel precise enough. We don’t know more about it yet, but apparently they’ll work well with the console’s gyro sensors, meaning you won’t have to worry about losing too much accuracy if you play an FPS on this thing.