Valve is working to add Windows 11 support to the Steam Deck

While Valve has already announced that the Steam bridge will support dual boot between SteamOS and Windows 10, new information from a Steam Deck designer also revealed that Valve is working with AMD to ensure support for Windows 11.

In a recent interview with Valve’s Greg Coomer, one of the designers of Steam Deck, PC player has learned that while Valve’s primary focus so far has been to optimize Steam OS and Steam Deck performance when running Windows 10, Valve also relies on AMD’s insight to ensure taking charge of Microsoft’s next OS too, which should be released later this fall.

Regarding Windows 11, Coomer said, “We’ve been so focused on Windows 10 so far that we haven’t really gone that far. Our expectation is that we can answer them.

One of the problems for Valve is that some of the new Hardware requirements like the TPM chips that should be part of Windows 11 force the company to do extra work to provide basic compatibility. That said, Coomer seems optimistic that thanks to the collaboration between Valve and AMD (which makes the custom APU for use in the Steam Deck), the Steam Deck is expected to support Windows 11.

“It’s also an ongoing conversation with AMD, to make sure that at the BIOS level, we can adapt to that. So nothing tells us yet that there will be any problems with Windows 11, ”Coomer said.

Out of the box, the Steam Deck should run the latest version of Valve’s Linux-based Steam operating system, which uses a compatibility layer called Proton when playing games that don’t support native Linux. And while Valve has made it clear that their goal with Steam Deck will be to deliver the best gaming experience on SteamOS, support for Windows 10 and 11 is still quite important, especially because at present it doesn’t. It’s not clear whether anti-cheat protocols in games like Apex Legends, Gears 5, and the like will work properly outside of Windows.

In one of his Steam Deck FAQs, Valve says, “We are working with BattlEye and EAC to get support for Proton ahead of launch. So while Steam OS will be the default operating system for Steam Deck, it’s really encouraging that Valve is also looking to make Steam Deck more compatible with Windows 10 and 11. this move potentially gives players more options when it comes to playing a wide range titles, but it also reinforces the ethic that the Steam Deck is much more open and flexible compared to more locked-down console alternatives like the Nintendo Switch, which is something Valve founder Gabe Newell talked a lot.

Unfortunately, unlike the Nintendo Switch, according to another story from PC player, it appears that the Steam Deck does not have a performance enhancement setting when connected to a dock. This means that the Steam Deck should offer similar performance in portable mode or when connected to an external display, which can be a bummer for people dreaming of playing games on a large 4K TV with the Steam Deck.

Coomer explains Valve’s thought process, saying, “We really wanted to prioritize its use in what we thought was the highest use case, which is actually mobile. And so since we were focusing on this, and we chose as a threshold where the machine will perform well, and with good frame rate with AAA games in this scenario. We didn’t really feel like we needed to target the dock scenario at higher resolutions as well. We wanted a simpler design target and prioritize that.

And while Coomer says it might be possible to create a higher power mode for the Steam Deck when docked, it’s currently not a “high priority design target.”

So, as new information about the Steam Deck spreads as we move closer to its official launch before the end of the year, the excitement for an upcoming portable gaming machine designed for the PC crowd continues to grow. grow. SSome of Valve’s early gaming hardware, like the Steam Controller, may have been somewhat clunky (especially at launch), but the Steam Deck is shaping up quickly to become Valve’s second attempt to make its Steam engines initiative to return in 2014 a reality, and this time it could work well.