Valve's new 'Powered by SteamOS' branding has been unveiled, but it's more about clawing handhelds away from Windows than it is about new desktop Steam Machines
Hooo mama, what a time it is for Valve. It seems like a Steam Controller 2 is already in mass production and now it looks like SteamOS might soon be making its way onto third-party handhelds, or perhaps even other machines. It sure is an exciting time for anyone interested in GabeN's gubbins, which is surely just about every PC gamer.
As spotted by a Reddit user on r/pcgaming, Valve's added a new logo to its brand guidelines, this being a "Powered by SteamOS" logo and related guidelines which can be found on page 16. This is, as far as I'm aware, the first big change to its brand guidelines in years.
The document states: "The Powered by SteamOS logo indicates that a hardware device will run the SteamOS and boot into SteamOS upon powering on the device. Partners / manufacturers will ship hardware with a Steam image in the form provided by and / or developed in close collaboration with Valve."
Valve's always spoken about the possibility of releasing SteamOS for general install on whatever device you wish, and we first saw real hints of SteamOS's potential wider adoption earlier this year when ROG Ally support was added.
One thing that's surprised me about all this, though, at least judging by online comments, is just how many people seem to be keen on getting SteamOS installed on their desktop instead of Windows.
I know Windows' latest updates aren't quite bug-free (just ask my colleague Andy about that one, given his recent update woes), but I still find it a little surprising that people would swap out their desktop for a Steam desktop. Unless it's only used for gaming, of course.
I'm not sure we should be barking up the SteamOS desktop tree too much, yet, anyway. Even back in 2023, Valve's lead designer Lawrence Yang told us that Valve would "probably start with making [SteamOS] more available to other handhelds with a similar gamepad style controller".
I'd place my bets on officially licensed third-party handhelds such as the ROG Ally "Powered by SteamOS"—perhaps you'll be able to choose Windows or SteamOS at checkout.
But Valve has seemed keen on getting SteamOS out there as a general install, and this would presumably mean one could recreate the much-hyped, short-lived and mostly hypothetical Steam Machine with any number of devices. Much would depend on support for non-handheld hardware, though, and we have no word on that front—or on any front at all, really, regarding a general release.
But with news of a Steam Controller 2 potentially being in mass production, it is at least exciting to contemplate a Steam Controller + Steam Machine era, but this time done right thanks to all Valve's learnt over the past few years of successfully branching out into OS, handheld, and controller development.
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