Valve Wants To Make OLED Steam Deck, But Says It's Harder Than It Sounds

The Steam Deck has been a stunning success so far, but many gamers have wondered if the device will receive an upgrade soon. However, while it seems that Valve is more than willing to introduce a new version of the Deck, the company wants you to know that replacing the screen with an OLED is not as easy as you might think.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffais said that Valve “understands the limitations” of the Deck, especially the screen. Though Valve is considering “all avenues” for potentially improving it, he noted that swapping out a screen isn’t just a matter of physically replacing one for the other.

Size:640 × 360480 × 270

Want us to remember this setting for all your devices?

Please use a html5 video capable browser to watch videos.

This video has an invalid file format.

Sorry, but you can’t access this content!

Please enter your date of birth to view this video

JanuaryFebruaryMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustSeptemberOctoberNovemberDecember12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031Year2023202220212020201920182017201620152014201320122011201020092008200720062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993199219911990198919881987198619851984198319821981198019791978197719761975197419731972197119701969196819671966196519641963196219611960195919581957195619551954195319521951195019491948194719461945194419431942194119401939193819371936193519341933193219311930192919281927192619251924192319221921192019191918191719161915191419131912191119101909190819071906190519041903190219011900

By clicking ‘enter’, you agree to GameSpot’s
Terms of Use and
Privacy Policy

enter

Now Playing: How The Steam Deck Is Changing Console Gaming

“I think people are looking at things like an incremental version and assume that it’s an easy drop-in,” Griffais said in part. “But in reality, the screen’s at the core of the device. Everything is anchored to it. Basically everything is architected around everything when you’re talking about a device that small. I think it would be a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be.”

So far, Valve has not indicated whether or not the Deck will receive an incremental upgrade (comparable to the OLED Nintendo Switch) or a total rebuild with better specs across the board. However, this interview would seem to indicate that the latter is more likely.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.