It’s no myth that without SteamOS, the Steam Deck wouldn’t be the easy-to-use portable console from Valve that we now adore. Developed under Linux, SteamOS played a crucial role, and one of the developers behind it, Pierre-Loup Griffais, was present at CES 2025 to accompany the release of the new Legion Go S, the first device “Powered by SteamOS.” French publication Frandroid had the opportunity to ask the developer about their past experience and what they might have in store for the future.
While the entire conversation was filled with engaging questions and answers, including everything would make this quite lengthy. However, one particularly interesting exchange occurred when Pierre was asked about the death of SteamOS 2 following the failure of Steam Machines. He replied:
“In fact, all the infrastructure we use dates back to that point and has been constantly developed: Steam Input, the Vulkan API, Big Picture… In the end, all the other parts were pretty replaceable. We rarely had to rewrite or start over: the work accumulates. Which means that there were literally 12 years of work to get here, and there are still years of development left to reach our goals.”
Pierre-Loup Griffais, SteamOS developer
This was quite interesting to hear, as SteamOS began in 2012, and since then, it has followed a steady path of progress. No doubt that the Steam Deck accelerated development. While the operating system has come a long way from its initial form, the work is far from complete. One area where we saw this idea in action was bringing SteamOS to a broader audience. The company is actively seeking ways to make this possible, but it has proven to be a challenging task; it seems to be held back by Nvidia drivers for the time being.
Can we expect to see something big from Steam and Valve this year?
Apart from discussing the future of SteamOS, the developer was also asked for general insights into other topics, such as whether we might see Steam Machines back on shelves. He replied, “Handhelds are our priority right now,” further adding that:
“But as our work expands our ability to work on other platforms and have a good experience in different form factors… We’ve already done a lot to make these consoles connectable to screens, connectable to a controller…
We’re not there yet to give priority to a Steam Machine. But in collaboration or internally, it’s an open door to the future.”
Pierre-Loup Griffais, SteamOS developer
The door for collaboration is open if the right person or opportunity comes along, but for now, it seems there aren’t any major events lined up for Steam or Valve in 2025. The focus is currently on the Legion Go S and optimizing SteamOS with beta updates that will support these expanded platforms. Who knows though, we may see a revival of the Steam Machine way down the road.