Images popped up on Twitter today of a collection of Early Steam Deck prototypes, teasing what might have been. These come from Twitter user and Valve employee Pierre-Loup Griffais who shared the saucy snaps online. The pictures in question showcase some of the early Steam Deck development units. Each of these will be part of a display that Valve is preparing for its Asian Press launch event. Valve has been gearing up for a while and it’s resulted in some exciting results for fans globally.
These are not the first steps Valve has taken to introduce its wonderful device to the Asian market. Previously, Valve put together a book detailing the Steam Deck in all of its glory. It described the build process and features that prospective buyers might enjoy as a result of Valve’s exhaustive efforts. That’s not all though, Valve also laid bare a whole host of early development units. This was a fun peek behind the curtain of device development and it gave fans an insight into Valve’s dedication to delivering an ergonomic device. Not only is this book free to download, but it is also in multiple languages.
Following its literary foray, Valve has created separate accounts for each region and designed a cute mascot to help spread the love. The aforementioned pictures have appeared on Twitter showcasing the development cycle of some of the most recent iterations of the Steam Deck. If that doesn’t set your heart racing, it might be thrilling to know that some of these prototypes are also playable! Taking a closer look at the images, it’s interesting to note that only recently Valve has made the jump from the circular trackpads of the Steam Controller, to its current boxy layout. There also seem to be some screen revisions, different speaker grills, and colors.
The launch event referred to in the above tweet is likely the Tokyo Game Show that opens tomorrow: Thursday, September 15. Valve has announced in multiple tweets that they will have a stand displaying the Steam deck. Those lucky enough to be there will also be able to play select titles on one of the units.
Valve has been making a concerted effort to break into the Asian markets. Perhaps hoping to take a slice of Nintendo’s handheld gaming “pie”. More units sold translate into a stronger community and further development. That’s exciting if you’re someone that’s into handheld gaming. A broader user base is also likely to encourage game developers to make their games compatible on release.
With these insights into Valve’s processes, it’ll be interesting to see if any of the omitted features make it into their next device.
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