Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Gabe Newell and the team over at Valve are constantly working on ways to innovate and push games forward, whether it be through hardware or software. The team can be quite secretive when it comes to what’s next, but new reports may indicate the company’s latest project. A new Steam client update may hint that the company is developing a handheld Steam console.
Pavel Djundik, the creator of SteamDB, tweeted about the latest update to the Steam client on May 25. Among all of the technical speak you would expect to read in such an update were some fascinating details about a mysterious project. In addition to Neptune, the update talks about something called SteamPal, as well as SteamPal games. In his reporting, Djundik shares that the update also includes language in reference to some sort of quick access menu. “Shutdown,” “suspend,” and “restart” can all be found. The working theory is that this is all in reference to some sort of Steam handheld console.
The prospect of a handheld Steam console is even more believable when you remember that just weeks ago, Steam boss Gabe Newell was doing a Q&A at a high school where he said that Valve would have Steam console news by the end of the year. What’s more, Newell specifically said “it won’t be the answer you expect.” A handheld Steam console would certainly be unexpected.
If Valve really is developing a handheld Steam console, it would seem that we’ll get official word by the end of this year. If that isn’t the case, then it’s still yet to be seen what exactly “Neptune” and “SteamPal” are referring to. Whatever news comes out, you can expect to read about it right here on Shacknews.