"Steam Deck" has been quite a hit. So it seems certain that a sequel is in the works. However, it will be at least "a few years" before Steam Deck 2, with a significant performance upgrade, appears on the scene.

So says Lawrence Yang, Steam Deck designer. According to an old Rock Paper Shotgun (opens in new tab), Yang specifically said that "a true next-generation Deck with significantly more horsepower is a few years away."

This is really not surprising. After all, the Steam Deck has only just celebrated its first birthday. It is a very slick piece of kit with a lot of custom designed and commissioned hardware, most notably the AMD APU.

This is a significant investment. Therefore, like any large game console, the Steam Deck requires a lifecycle of several years to recoup its investment. It is financially difficult to perform a major upgrade within, say, 18 months.

Yang and his colleague, Steam Deck designer Pierre-Loup Griffet, also point out the benefits of providing game developers with a stable target. Says Griffais, "If high-end current generation titles can support Deck and deliver a great experience, they can also deliver smooth performance on a wider variety of PCs and improve the experience for the entire player base."

And again, as with more conventional consoles, the full power of Steam Deck has yet to be unleashed, as evidenced by the recent update to Doom Eternal that added ray tracing (open in new tab) running on Deck.

As we reported late last year, we may see an interim update with an upgraded screen and better battery (open in new tab) before a proper next-generation Deck is launched. But it is clear that a full-fledged performance upgrade will not happen anytime soon.

Given what is theoretically possible with today's state-of-the-art chip technology, that's a bit frustrating. However, the existing Steam Deck will be able to do some pretty magical, yet unforeseen things in the next few years.

As RPS points out, as developers dig into their hardware and get every last drop of performance out of it, attitudes are likely to shift from "what the Steam Deck can do" to the more specific "what games can do with the Steam Deck."

As the saying goes, "necessity is the mother of invention." With this old saying in mind, the relative limitations of the Steam Deck may spark the creation of compelling games.