Valve is billing the Steam Deck as proper handheld gaming PC, one that’s capable of running pretty much everything that a regular PC can, and all the features that they’ve revealed for the device so far, including all the customizability options, definitely suggest that it’s going to live up to that billing. But of course, with Windows 11 launching soon and promising a shifting future for the PC gaming landscape over the coming years, one can’t help but wonder what that’s going to mean for the Steam Deck.
PC Gamer recently spoke with Steam Deck designer Greg Coomer about the same, who says that Valve isn’t worried about Steam Deck compatibility, and from working on the Trusted Compatibility Module (TPM) to working with AMD (whose processors the device runs on) to ensure Windows 11 compatibility, Valve is already taking steps to ensure that the device doesn’t run into issues on this front.
“There’s work looking at TPM just now,” Coomer said. “We’ve focused so much on Windows 10, so far, that we haven’t really gotten that far into it. Our expectation is that we can meet that.”
“It’s also a conversation that’s going on with AMD to make sure that, at the BIOS level, we can accommodate that,” he added. “So there’s nothing to indicate to us yet that there’ll be any issues with Windows 11.”
Valve has said that the Steam Deck has been built with future proofing in mind, so it would make sense that Windows 11 compatibility is something the company has kept in mind as well.
The Steam Deck launches this December with limited stock and in select regions of the world, with more waves rolling out over the course of 2022.