valve

Are you ready for a $1,000 Steam Machine? Some analysts think you should be.

Analysts, components, gaming, Hardware, steam machine, steam machines, tariff, valve / Mike M. / November 15, 2025

If you ask random gamers what price they think Valve will charge for its newly announced Steam Machine hardware, you’ll get a wide range of guesses. But if you ask the analysts who follow the game industry for a living the same question… well, you’ll actually get the same wide range of (somewhat better-informed) guesses.

At the high end of those guesses are analysts like F-Squared‘s Michael Futter, who expects a starting price of $799 to $899 for the entry-level 512GB Steam Machine and a whopping $1,000 to $1,100 for the 2TB version. With internal specs that Futter says “will rival a PS5 and maybe even hit PS5 Pro performance,” we can expect a “hefty price tag” from Valve’s new console-like effort. At the same time, since Valve is “positioning this as a dedicated, powerful gaming PC… I suspect that the price will be below a similarly capable traditional desktop,” Futter said.

DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole similarly expects the Steam Machine to start at a price “around $800” and go up to “around $1,000” for the 2TB model. Cole said he expects Valve will seek “very low margins” or even break-even pricing on the hardware itself, which he said would probably lead to pricing “below a gaming PC but slightly above a high-end console.”

A loss leader?

At the other end of the spectrum, Superdata Research founder and SuperJoost newsletter author Joost Van Dreunen predicted the entry-level Steam Machine could come in as low as $549, rising to $749 for the 2TB version (plus an additional $50 for bundles including a Steam Controller).

To Van Dreunen, Valve’s unique position as a private company with a loyal fan base means it can “price its hardware to hit its own strategic sweet spot rather than mirror the competition.” And in this case, he said, that could mean taking a “modest” loss on the hardware as a way to get more gamers invested in SteamOS.

Getting people to buy more games on SteamOS could be worth a lot more to Valve than any Steam Machine hardware profits. Credit: Valve

“Just like Sony and Microsoft, the real money isn’t in the box, it’s in the ecosystem you enter once you buy it,” Van Dreunen said. “To me the question isn’t whether Valve can afford to eat margin. It’s whether they want the SteamOS footprint to grow fast enough to justify it. … Strategically, this is about expanding the platform, not squeezing the hardware.”

Are you ready for a $1,000 Steam Machine? Some analysts think you should be. Read More »

Valve rejoins the VR hardware wars with standalone Steam Frame

gaming, headset, steam, valve, virtual reality, vr / Beth Washington / November 12, 2025

Valve also tells Ars that streaming to the Steam Frame will be “as efficient as possible,” maximizing battery life from the included 21.6 Wh battery. “Standalone battery life will be much more variable, depending on the game and its settings,” Valve Engineer Jeremy Selan and Designer Lawrence Yang told Ars via email.

While a wired PC connection would go a long way toward addressing those battery-life and extra latency concerns, Valve said the Steam Frame won’t even support it as an option. “We’re focused on a robust wireless streaming experience, which is why we included a dedicated wireless adapter, have a dedicated radio on the headset just for streaming, and invented a new streaming technology to optimize the streaming experience (Foveated Streaming),” Selan and Yang told Ars.

A low-weight modular “core”

All told, the Steam Frame comes in at just 440 grams, a welcome and sizeable reduction from the 515 grams of the Quest 3. Interestingly, Valve’s spec sheet also specifically calls out the 185 gram “core” of the headset hardware, which comprises all the main components besides the battery, headstrap, and speakers (e.g., lenses, displays, motherboard, cooling, processor, RAM, tracking system, etc).

That core weight is important, Selan and Yang told Ars, because “it’s designed to be modular so one could imagine other headsets connecting to this core module that bring different features.” So tinkerers or third-party headset makers could theoretically build modified versions of the Steam Frame with lighter batteries or streamlined headstrap/speaker combos, for instance. The Steam Frame’s monochrome passthrough cameras can also be accessed via a front expansion port with a standardized Gen 4 PCIe interface, Valve said.

It’s an interesting potential direction for new hardware that will launch into a more niche, less irrationally exuberant VR market than Valve’s previous virtual reality headsets. But with companies like Apple and Meta pivoting toward augmented reality and/or mixed-reality hardware of late, it’s nice to see Valve continuing to cater to the small but dedicated market of gamers who are still interested in playing in fully immersive VR environments.

Valve rejoins the VR hardware wars with standalone Steam Frame Read More »

Steam Deck minus the screen: Valve announces new Steam Machine, Controller hardware

controller, gaming, steam, steam controller, steam machine, steamos, valve / DJ Henderson / November 12, 2025

SteamOS-powered cube for your TV targets early 2026 launch, no pricing details.

Meet the ValveCube (not its real name) Credit: Valve

Nearly four years after the Steam Deck changed the world of portable gaming, Valve is getting ready to release SteamOS-powered hardware designed for the living room TV, or even as a desktop PC gaming replacement. The simply named Steam Machine and Steam Controller, both planned to ship in early 2026, are “optimized for gaming on Steam and designed for players to get even more out of their Steam Library,” Valve said in a press release.

A Steam Machine spec sheet shared by Valve lists a “semi-custom” six-core AMD Zen 4 CPU clocked at up to 4.8 Ghz alongside an AMD RDNA3 GPU with 28 compute units. The motherboard will include 16GB of DDR5 RAM and an additional 8GB of dedicated DDR6 VRAM for the GPU. The new hardware will come in two configurations with 512GB or 2TB of unspecified “SSD storage,” though Valve isn’t sharing pricing for either just yet.

If you squint, you can make out a few ports on this unmarked black square. Valve

Those chips and numbers suggest the Steam Machine will have roughly the same horsepower as a mid-range desktop gaming PC from a few years back. But Valve says its “Machine”—which it ranks as “over 6x more powerful than the Steam Deck”—is powerful enough to support ray-tracing and/or 4K, 60 fps gaming using FSR upscaling.

Externally, the Steam Machine is housed in a stark black cube measuring 160 mm (~6.30-inch) on each side, making it slightly larger than the old Nintendo GameCube (sans handle). The front of the Machine sports two USB-A ports, an SD card storage expansion slot, a power button, and a “customizable LED bar” that can change to reflect when the system is booting up, downloading updates, etc. A huge fan vent takes up most of the rear of the unit, alongside three additional USB ports (including one USB-C port) and HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4 outputs.

Taking control

While the Steam Machine will be able to connect to standard USB and Bluetooth PC controllers and peripherals, it has been designed with a brand-new Steam Controller in mind. And while both pieces of hardware will be sold separately, they will also be available in a bundle for gamers who want an all-in-one living room gaming solution.

If it weren’t for those touchpads, it would be hard to distinguish this gamepad from a lot of other modern controllers. Valve

The new Steam Controller (not to be confused with the identically named old Steam Controller) will make use of a proprietary 2.4 Ghz wireless connection that allows for around 8 ms of end-to-end latency between a button press and the resulting signal received by the system. A radio for that connection will be built into the Steam Machine but will also be available via an included “plug and play” Steam Controller Puck that can support up to four wireless controller connections.

Without the puck, the new Steam Controller can still connect to PCs (including portable gaming PCs) and smartphones via Bluetooth or a wired USB connection. And while console connections are technically possible, Valve Software Engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais and Designer Lawrence Yang told Ars via email that it would “require collaboration with the vendor” that the company would be “happy to discuss… if it came up.”

The most striking feature of the Steam Controller is the dual touchpads underneath the thumbsticks, mirroring the similar, somewhat underutilized control options on the Steam Deck. Each touchpad will come with its own haptic motor for “HD tactile feedback” that should feel akin to rolling a clicky trackball under your thumb (two more haptic motors in the grips handle force feedback output from the games themselves).

Aside from that, the Steam Controller seems a lot more standardized than Valve’s last attempt at a controller. It features thumbsticks, a d-pad, face buttons, and shoulder buttons pretty much where you’d expect them, plus four programmable “grip buttons” on the back side of the controller. The familiar Steam, View, Menu, and QAM (aka “three dots”) buttons also come over from the Steam Deck for quick access to useful SteamOS functions.

Internally, the Steam Controller will use magnetic TMR thumbstick sensors, which should hopefully limit the kind of stick drift we see with the mechanical sticks on the Nintendo Switch, for instance. A six-axis IMU will allow for gyro-based tilt controls as well, and a “grip sensor” can help make sure those controls turn off when you’re putting the controller down or picking it up.

Let’s try that again

Software-wise, the Steam Machine will of course run SteamOS, the custom Linux-based operating system popularized by the Steam Deck and recently officially expanded to other handhelds. Valve says that means fast suspend/resume features, easy access to your Steam cloud saves, “and all the other Steam features you’d expect.” It also means the ability to boot to a Linux desktop mode or install Windows with the help of drivers available on Valve’s website, Griffais and Yang told Ars.

Crucially, the new SteamOS offers compatibility with the vast majority of games made for Windows via Proton, a key feature that was missing the last time Valve pushed Linux-based “Steam Machines” hardware roughly a decade ago. Recent versions of SteamOS can actually boast better in-game performance than Windows on some games and hardware in Ars’ testing.

“One of our biggest learnings [from the first Steam Machines effort] is that it’s a tall order to ask developers to port their games to run on Linux—so we have done a bunch of work on Proton to the point where almost all games just work out of the box,” Griffais and Yang told Ars. “Since that time, we’ve gained valuable experience in manufacturing, made big improvements to Steam, Steam Input, and SteamOS, and we are excited to bring our own first party Steam Machine and the new Steam Controller to market.”

Valve’s ill-fated Steam Machines hardware rollout 10 years ago also relied on third-party manufacturers to handle the actual construction of a wide range of branded Linux boxes. This time around, Valve is handling the manufacture and distribution of a singular Steam Machine on its own, following the success of a similar rollout for the Steam Deck. And while we’ve seen leaked “Powered by SteamOS” branding suggesting third-party SteamOS living room boxes might be in the works, Valve hasn’t announced anything official yet.

“We’re always happy to chat with companies who are interested in making their own SteamOS powered devices,” Griffais and Yang told Ars. “We are working on broadening support, and with the recent updates to Steam and SteamOS, compatibility with other devices has improved, starting with other AMD powered PC handhelds.”

But while the Steam Deck filled an obvious market need for portable access to PC games, it’s harder to know where the new Steam Machine will fit in the already crowded market for living room gaming (not to mention the highly modular desktop gaming market). That’s especially true since the Steam Deck and its imitators can already serve as passable living room gaming devices when plugged into any number of third-party USB-C docks.

A lot will depend on pricing details and just how simple and convenient the new hardware makes the experience of playing PC games on the living room TV. We’ll keep you posted as more information comes in and when we’ve had a chance to get some hands-on time with Valve’s newest swing at the hardware market.

Kyle Orland has been the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica since 2012, writing primarily about the business, tech, and culture behind video games. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He once wrote a whole book about Minesweeper.

Steam Deck minus the screen: Valve announces new Steam Machine, Controller hardware Read More »

New project brings strong Linux compatibility to more classic Windows games

compatibility layer, gaming, Linux, Open Source, steamos, valve, Windows / DJ Henderson / November 10, 2025

Those additional options should be welcome news for fans looking for new ways to play PC games of a certain era. The PC Gaming Wiki lists over 400 titles written with the D3D7 APIs, and while most of those games were released between 2000 and 2004, a handful of new D3D7 games have continued to be released through 2022.

The D3D7 games list predictably includes a lot of licensed shovelware, but there are also well-remembered games like Escape from Monkey Island, Arx Fatalis, and the original Hitman: Codename 47. WinterSnowfall writes that the project was inspired by a desire to play games like Sacrifice and Disciples II on top of the existing dxvk framework.

Despite some known issues with certain D3D7 titles, WinterSnowfall writes that recent tuning means “things are now anywhere between decent to stellar in most of the supported games.” Still, the project author warns that the project will likely never reach full compatibility since “D3D7 is a land of highly cursed API interoperability.”

Don’t expect this project to expand to include support for even older DirectX APIs, either, WinterSnowfall warns. “D3D7 is enough of a challenge and a mess as it is,” the author writes. “The further we stray from D3D9, the further we stray from the divine.”

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CS2 item market loses nearly $2B in value overnight due to “trade up” update

counter-strike 2, CS@, CS2, gaming, items, Marketplace, trading, valve / 9u50fv / October 23, 2025

Valve benefits from any panicked trading in the short term, with every Steam Marketplace sale carrying a 5 percent “Steam Transaction Fee” on top of a 10 percent “Counter-Strike 2 fee… that is determined and collected by the game publisher” (read: Valve). In the long term, though, making some of the rarest items in the game easier to obtain will likely depress overall spending among the whales that dominate the market.

Wild CS2 update tonight. I’ve spent the last few hours digging through market data and built this projection chart to show how I think things play out.

Knives and gloves drop fast (40–50%) as the new trade-up path floods supply, while Covert skins surge short-term as everyone… pic.twitter.com/8NOMIBPZ1F

— SAC (@SAC_IG) October 23, 2025

Using marketplace data, Irish Guys esports team owner SAC ran some projections estimating that, over the next few months, “the market settles about 5–10% lower overall, not a crash, just a correction.” But there are also more bullish and bearish possibilities, depending on how overall item demand and market liquidity develops in the near future.

Market tracker CSFloat also crunched some numbers to determine that the overall supply of knives and gloves could roughly double if every common item were traded up under the new update. In practice, though, the supply increase will likely be “far less.”

Massive monetary shifts aside, this latest update seems set to make it easier for new CS2 players to access some once-rare in-game items without breaking the bank. “I got burned a little [by the update]… but honestly, this is the way to go for the long term health of the game,” Redditor chbotong wrote. “[It’s] given me faith that Valve is actually steering in a direction that favors the average player than a market whale.”

CS2 item market loses nearly $2B in value overnight due to “trade up” update Read More »

Steam will wind down support for 32-bit Windows as that version of Windows fades

32-bit, gaming, steam, Tech, valve, Windows 10, windows 10 22h2, Windows 11 / DJ Henderson / September 21, 2025

Though the 32-bit versions of Windows were widely used from the mid-90s all the way through to the early 2010s, this change is coming so late that it should only actually affect a statistically insignificant number of Steam users. Valve already pulled Steam support for all versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8 in January 2024, and 2021’s Windows 11 was the first in decades not to ship a 32-bit version. That leaves only the 32-bit version of Windows 10, which is old enough that it will stop getting security updates in either October 2025 or October 2026, depending on how you count it.

According to Steam Hardware Survey data from August, usage of the 32-bit version of Windows 10 (and any other 32-bit version of Windows) is so small that it’s lumped in with “other” on the page that tracks Windows version usage. All “other” versions of Windows combined represent roughly 0.05 percent of all Steam users. The 64-bit version of Windows 10 still runs on just over a third of all Steam-using Windows PCs, while the 64-bit version of Windows 11 accounts for just under two-thirds.

The change to the Steam client shouldn’t have any effects on game availability or compatibility. Any older 32-bit games that you can currently run in 64-bit versions of Windows will continue to work fine because, unlike modern macOS versions, new 64-bit versions of Windows still maintain compatibility with most 32-bit apps.

Steam will wind down support for 32-bit Windows as that version of Windows fades Read More »

Hollow Knight: Silksong is breaking Steam, Nintendo’s eShop

bandwidth, gaming, server errors, silksong, steam, team cherry, valve / DJ Henderson / September 4, 2025

An influx of players excited for this morning’s launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong are encountering widespread errors purchasing and downloading the game from Steam this morning. Ars Technica writers have encountered errors getting store pages to load, adding the game to an online shopping cart, and checking out once the game is part of the cart.

That aligns with widespread social media complaints and data from DownDetector, which saw a sudden spike of over 11,000 reports of problems with Steam in the minutes following Silksong‘s 10 am Eastern time release on Steam. The server problems don’t seem to be completely stopping everyone, though, as SteamDB currently reports over 100,000 concurrent players for Silksong as of this writing.

Ars also encountered some significant delays and/or outright errors when downloading other games and updates and syncing cloud saves on Steam during this morning’s server problems. The Humble Store page for Silksong currently warns North American purchasers that “We have run out of Steam keys for Hollow Knight: Silksong in your region, but more are on their way! As soon as we receive more Steam keys, we will add them to your download page. Sorry about the delay!”

The PC version of Silksong currently seems to be available for purchase and download without issue. Ars was also able to purchase and download the Switch 2 version of Silksong from the Nintendo eShop without encountering any errors, though others have reported problems with that online storefront [Update: As of 11:18 am, Nintendo is reporting, “The [Nintendo eShop] network service is unavailable at this time. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause].” The game is still listed as merely “Announced” and not available for purchase on its PlayStation Store page as of this writing.

Hollow Knight: Silksong is breaking Steam, Nintendo’s eShop Read More »

Why Microsoft’s next Xbox should just run Windows already

ASUS, gaming, microsoft, ROG Ally, steamos, valve, Windows, xbox / 9u50fv / June 18, 2025

Microsoft’s “Xbox Series” consoles haven’t exactly been tearing up the sales charts. Credit: Microsoft

On the PC side, though, Microsoft is still a force to be reckoned with. Practically every desktop or laptop gaming PC runs Windows by default, despite half-hearted efforts by Apple to turn MacOS into a serious gaming platform. And while Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS has created a significant handheld gaming PC niche—and is hinting at attempts to push into the gaming desktop space—it does so only through a Proton compatibility layer built on top of the strong developer interest in Windows gaming.

Microsoft is already highlighting its software advantage over SteamOS, promoting the Xbox Experience for Handhelds’ “aggregated game library” that can provide “access to games you can’t get elsewhere” through multiple Windows-based game launchers. There’s no reason to think that living room console players wouldn’t also be interested in that kind of no-compromise access to the full suite of Windows gaming options.

Microsoft has been preparing the Xbox brand for this ultimate merger between PC and console gaming for years, too. While the name “Xbox” was once synonymous with Microsoft’s console gaming efforts, that hasn’t been true since the launch of “Xbox on Windows 10” back in 2015 and the subsequent Windows Xbox app.

Meanwhile, offerings like Microsoft’s “Play Anywhere” initiative and the Xbox Game Pass for PC have gotten players used to purchases and subscriptions giving them access to games on both Xbox consoles and Windows PCs (not to mention cloud streaming to devices like smartphones). If your living room Xbox console simply played Windows games directly (along with your Windows-based handheld gaming PC), this sort of “Play Anywhere” promise becomes that much simpler to pull off without any need for porting effort from developers.

These are the kinds of thoughts that ran through my mind when I heard Bond say yesterday that Xbox is “working closely with the Windows team to ensure that Windows is the number one platform for gaming” while “building you a gaming platform that’s always with you so you can play the games you want across devices anywhere you want, delivering you an Xbox experience not locked to a single store or tied to one device.” That could simply be the kind of cross-market pablum we’re used to hearing from Microsoft. Or it could be a hint of a new world where Microsoft finally fully leverages its Windows gaming dominance into a new vision for a living room Xbox console.

Why Microsoft’s next Xbox should just run Windows already Read More »

SteamOS 3.7 brings Valve’s gaming OS to other handhelds and generic AMD PCs

asus rog ally, asus rog ally x, gaming, lenovo legion go, steam deck, steamos, Tech, valve / Shannon Garcia / May 23, 2025

Valve’s instructions will walk you through downloading a SteamOS recovery image and copying it to a USB drive using either the Rufus tool (on Windows) or Balena Etcher (the preferred macOS and Linux utility). After turning Secure Boot off, you should be able to boot from the USB drive and install SteamOS as you would on a regular Steam Deck.

Note that there’s no simple, officially supported way to dual-boot SteamOS and Windows; if you decide to turn your handheld, laptop, or desktop into a new Steam Machine, the only way to make it back into a Windows PC is to re-enable Secure Boot and install a fresh copy from another USB drive.

The SteamOS 3.7 update (officially, version 3.7.8) also includes a bunch of other updates to the underlying software: version 6.11 of the Linux kernel (up from version 6.5 in SteamOS 3.6), “a newer Arch Linux base,” version 6.2.5 of the Plasma interface in desktop mode, new Mesa graphics drivers, and various other tweaks and bug fixes.

A second act for SteamOS

The original version of SteamOS was designed to be widely compatible with all kinds of PC hardware and was available both from major PC manufacturers and as a standalone OS that you could (and which we did) install on custom, self-built PCs. But these computers and that version of SteamOS mostly flopped, at least in part because they only ran a small subset of games that natively supported Linux.

The current version of SteamOS launched with more modest aims as the first-party operating system for a single piece of hardware. But by focusing on the game compatibility problem first and leading the way with category-defining hardware, Valve has actually built a much stronger foundation for the current version of SteamOS than it did for the original.

That doesn’t make SteamOS a drop-in replacement for Windows—without strong support for Intel or Nvidia hardware, it’s not a great candidate for the majority of gaming PCs, or even Intel-powered gaming handhelds like the MSI Claw A1M. And Windows is set up to be a multi-purpose general-use operating system in ways that SteamOS isn’t; Valve still says that, despite the presence of desktop mode, “users should not consider SteamOS as a replacement for their desktop operating system.” But for certain kinds of systems that are primarily used as gaming PCs, SteamOS is a real contender.

SteamOS 3.7 brings Valve’s gaming OS to other handhelds and generic AMD PCs Read More »

Why Valve should make Half-Life 3 a SteamOS exclusive

gaming, Half-Life 3, steam machine, valve / Beth Washington / March 1, 2025

The ultimate system seller

Opinion: Just as Half-Life 2 helped launch Steam, a sequel could help establish non-Windows PC gaming.

We found this logo hidden deep in an abandoned steel forge, Credit: Aurich Lawson | Steam

A little over 20 years ago, Valve was getting ready to release a new Half-Life game. At the same time, the company was trying to push Steam as a new option for players to download and update games over the Internet.

Requiring Steam in order to play Half-Life 2 led to plenty of grumbling from players in 2004. But the high-profile Steam exclusive helped build an instant user base for Valve’s fresh distribution system, setting it on a path to eventually become the unquestioned leader in the space. The link between the new game and the new platform helped promote a bold alternative to the retail game sales and distribution systems that had dominated PC gaming for decades.

Today, all indications suggest that Valve is getting ready to release a new Half-Life game. At the same time, the company is getting ready to push SteamOS as a new option for third-party hardware makers and individual users to “download and test themselves.”

Requiring SteamOS to play Half-Life 3 would definitely lead to a lot of grumbling from players. But the high-profile exclusive could help build an instant user base for Valve’s fresh operating system, perhaps setting it on the path to become the unquestioned leader in the space. A link between the new game and the new platform could help promote a bold alternative to the Windows-based systems that have dominated PC gaming for decades.

Not another Steam Machine

Getting players to change the established platform they use to buy and play games (either in terms of hardware or software) usually requires some sort of instantly apparent benefit for the player. Those benefits can range from the tangible (e.g., an improved controller, better graphics performance) to the ancillary (e.g., social features, achievements) to the downright weird (e.g., a second screen on a portable). Often, though, a core reason why players switch platforms is for access to exclusive “system seller” games that aren’t available any other way.

Half-Life 2‘s role in popularizing early Steam shows just how much a highly anticipated exclusive can convince otherwise reluctant players to invest time and effort in a new platform. To see what can happen without such an exclusive, we only need to look to Valve’s 2015 launch of the Steam Machine hardware line, powered by the first version of the Linux-based SteamOS.

Valve offered players very little in the way of affirmative reasons to switch to a SteamOS-powered Steam Machine in 2015. Credit: Alienware

At the time, Valve was selling SteamOS mainly as an alternative to a new Windows 8 environment that Valve co-founder Gabe Newell saw as a “catastrophe” in the making for the PC gaming world. Newell described SteamOS as a “hedging strategy” against Microsoft’s potential ability to force all Windows 8 app distribution through the Windows Store, a la Apple’s total control of iPhone app distribution.

When Microsoft failed to impose that kind of hegemonic control over Windows apps and games, Valve was left with little else to convince players that it was worth buying a Windows-free Steam Machine (or going through the onerous process of installing the original SteamOS on their gaming rigs). Sure, using SteamOS meant saving a few bucks on a Windows license. But it also meant being stuck with an extremely limited library of Linux ports (especially when it came to releases from major publishers) and poor technical performance compared to Windows even when those ports were available.

Given those obvious downsides—and the lack of any obvious upsides—it’s no wonder that users overwhelmingly ignored SteamOS and Steam Machines at the time. But as we argued way back in 2013, a major exclusive on the scale of Half-Life 3 could have convinced a lot of gamers to overlook at least some of those downsides and give the new platform a chance.

A little push

Fast forward to today, and the modern version of SteamOS is in a much better place than the Steam Machine-era version ever was. That’s thanks in large part to Valve’s consistent work on the Proton compatibility layer, which lets the Linux-based SteamOS run almost any game that’s designed for Windows (with only a few major exceptions). That wide compatibility has been a huge boon for the Steam Deck, which offered many players easy handheld access to vast swathes of PC gaming for the first time. The Steam Deck also showed off SteamOS’s major user interface and user experience benefits over clunkier Windows-based gaming portables.

The Steam Deck served as an excellent proof of concept for the viability of SteamOS hardware with the gaming masses. Credit: Kyle Orland

Still, the benefits of switching from Windows to SteamOS might seem a bit amorphous to many players today. If Valve is really interested in pushing its OS as an alternative to Windows gaming, a big exclusive game is just the thing to convince a critical mass of players to make the leap. And when it comes to massive PC gaming exclusives, it doesn’t get much bigger than the long, long-awaited Half-Life 3.

We know it might sound ludicrous to suggest that Valve’s biggest game in years should ignore the Windows platform that’s been used by practically every PC gamer for decades. Keep in mind, though, that there would be nothing stopping existing Windows gamers from downloading and installing a free copy of the Linux-based SteamOS (likely on a separate drive or partition) to get access to Half-Life 3.

Yes, installing a new operating system (especially one based on Linux) is not exactly a plug-and-play process. But Valve has a long history of streamlining game downloads, updates, and driver installations through Steam itself. If anyone can make the process of setting up a new OS relatively seamless, it’s Valve.

And let’s not forget that millions of gamers already have easy access to SteamOS through Steam Deck hardware. Those aging Steam Decks might not be powerful enough to run a game like Half-Life 3 at maximum graphics settings, but Valve games have a history of scaling down well on low-end systems.

Valve’s leaked “Powered by SteamOS” initiative also seems poised to let third-party hardware makers jump in with more powerful (and more Half-Life 3-capable) desktops, laptops, and handhelds with SteamOS pre-installed. And that’s before we even consider the potential impact of a more powerful “Steam Deck 2,” which Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais said in 2023 could potentially come in “the next couple of years.”

Time for a bold move

Tying a major game like Half-Life 3 to a completely new and largely untested operating system would surely lead to some deafening pushback from gamers happy with the Windows-based status quo. An exclusive release could also be risky if SteamOS ends up showing some technical problems as it tries to grow past its Steam Deck roots (Linux doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to things like game driver compatibility across different hardware).

The Lenovo Legion Go S will be the first non-Valve hardware to be officially “Powered by SteamOS.” A Windows-sporting version will be more expensive Credit: Lenovo

Despite all that, we’re pretty confident that the vast majority of players interested in Half-Life 3 would jump through a few OS-related hoops to get access to the game. And many of those players would likely stick with Valve’s gaming-optimized OS going forward rather than spending money on another Windows license.

Even a timed exclusivity window for Half-Life 3 on SteamOS could push a lot of early adopters to see what all the fuss is about without excluding those who refuse to switch away from Windows. Failing even that, maybe a non-exclusive Half-Life 3 could be included as a pre-installed freebie with future versions of SteamOS, as an incentive for the curious to try out a new operating system.

With the coming wide release of SteamOS, Valve has a rare opportunity to upend the PC gaming OS dominance that Microsoft more or less stumbled into decades ago. A game like Half-Life 3 could be just the carrot needed to get PC gaming as a whole over its longstanding Windows dependence.

Why Valve should make Half-Life 3 a SteamOS exclusive Read More »

Valve releases full Team Fortress 2 game code to encourage new, free versions

gaming, half life 2, half-life deathmatch, half-life: source, source code, Source Engine, steam, Team Fortress 2, valve / 9u50fv / February 20, 2025

Valve’s updates to its classic games evoke Hemingway’s two kinds of going bankrupt: gradually, then suddenly. Nothing is heard, little is seen, and then, one day, Half-Life 2: Deathmatch, Day of Defeat, and other Source-engine-based games get a bevy of modern upgrades. Now, the entirety of Team Fortress 2 (TF2) client and server game code, a boon for modders and fixers, is also being released.

That source code allows for more ambitious projects than have been possible thus far, Valve wrote in a blog post. “Unlike the Steam Workshop or local content mods, this SDK gives mod makers the ability to change, extend, or rewrite TF2, making anything from small tweaks to complete conversions possible.” The SDK license restricts any resulting projects to “a non-commercial basis,” but they can be published on Steam’s store as their own entities.

Since it had the tools out, Valve also poked around the games based on that more open source engine and spiffed them up as well. Most games got 64-bit binary support, scalable HUD graphics, borderless window options, and the like. Many of these upgrades come from the big 25-year anniversary update made to Half-Life 2, which included “overbright lighting,” gamepad configurations, Steam networking support, and the like.

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When software updates actually improve—instead of ruin—our favorite devices

airpods, fire tv, Smart Home, Software, Tech, valve / Shannon Garcia / February 12, 2025

Opinion: These tech products have gotten better over time.

The Hatch Restore 2 smart alarm clock. Credit: Scharon Harding

For many, there’s a feeling of dread associated with software updates to your favorite gadget. Updates to a beloved gadget can frequently result in outrage, from obligatory complaints around bugs to selective aversions to change from Luddites and tech enthusiasts.

In addition to those frustrations, there are times when gadget makers use software updates to manipulate product functionality and seriously upend owners’ abilities to use their property as expected. We’ve all seen software updates render gadgets absolutely horrible: Printers have nearly become a four-letter word as the industry infamously issues updates that brick third-party ink and scanning capabilities. We’ve also seen companies update products that caused features to be behind a paywall or removed entirely. This type of behavior has contributed to some users feeling wary of software updates in fear of them diminishing the value of already-purchased hardware.

On the other hand, there are times when software updates enrich the capabilities of smart gadgets. These updates are the types of things that can help devices retain or improve their value, last longer, and become less likely to turn into e-waste.

For example, I’ve been using the Hatch Restore 2 sunrise alarm clock since July. In that time, updates to its companion app have enabled me to extract significantly more value from the clock and explore its large library of sounds, lights, and customization options.

The Hatch Sleep iOS app used to have tabs on the bottom for Rest, for setting how the clock looks and sounds when you’re sleeping; Library, for accessing the clock’s library of sounds and colors; and Rise, for setting how the clock looks and sounds when you’re waking up. Today, the bottom of the app just has Library and Home tabs, with Home featuring all the settings for Rest and Rise, as well as for Cue (the clock’s settings for reminding you it’s time to unwind for the night) and Unwind (sounds and settings that the clock uses during the time period leading up to sleep).

A screenshot of the Home section of the Hatch Sleep app.

Hatch’s app has generally become cleaner after hiding things like its notification section. Hatch also updated the app to store multiple Unwind settings you can swap around. Overall, these changes have made customizing my settings less tedious, which means I’ve been more inclined to try them. Before the updates, I mostly used the app to set my alarm and change my Rest settings. I often exited the app prematurely after getting overwhelmed by all the different tabs I had to toggle through (toggling through tabs was also more time-consuming).

Additionally, Hatch has updated the app since I started using it so that disabled alarms are placed under an expanding drawer. This has reduced the chances of me misreading the app and thinking I have an alarm set when it’s not currently enabled while providing a clearer view of which alarms actually are enabled.

The Library tab was also recently updated to group lights and sounds under Cue, Unwind, Sleep, and Wake, making it easier to find the type of setting I’m interested in.

The app also started providing more helpful recommendations, such as “favorites for heavy sleepers.”

Better over time

Software updates have made it easier for me to enjoy the Restore 2 hardware. Honestly, I don’t know if I’d still use the clock without these app improvements. What was primarily a noise machine this summer has become a multi-purpose device with much more value.

Now, you might argue that Hatch could’ve implemented these features from the beginning. That may have been more sensible, but as a tech enthusiast, I still find something inherently cool about watching a gadget improve in ways that affect how I use the hardware and align with what I thought my gadget needed. I agree that some tech gadgets are released prematurely and overly rely on updates to earn their initial prices. But it’s also advantageous for devices to improve over time.

The Steam Deck is another good example. Early adopters might have been disappointed to see missing features like overclocking controls, per-game power profiles, or Windows drivers. Valve has since added those features.

Valve only had a few dozen Hardware department employees in the run up to the launch of the Steam Deck. Credit: Sam Machkovech

Valve has also added more control over the Steam Deck since its release, including the power to adjust resolution and refresh rates for connected external displays. It’s also upped performance via an October update that Valve claimed could improve the battery life of LCD models by up to 10 percent in “light load situations.”

These are the kinds of updates that still allowed the Steam Deck to be playable for months, but the features were exciting additions once they arrived. When companies issue updates reliably and in ways that improve the user experience, people are less averse to updating their gadgets, which could also be critical for device functionality and security.

Adding new features via software updates can make devices more valuable to owners. Updates that address accessibility needs go even further by opening up the gadgets to more people.

Apple, for example, demonstrated the power that software updates can have on accessibility by adding a hearing aid feature to the AirPods Pro 2 in October, about two years after the earbuds came out. Similarly, Amazon updated some Fire TV models in December to support simultaneous audio broadcasting from internal speakers and hearing aids. It also expanded the number of hearing aids supported by some Fire TV models as well as its Fire TV Cube streaming device.

For some, these updates had a dramatic impact on how they could use the devices, demonstrating a focus on user, rather than corporate, needs.

Update upswings

We all know that corporations sometimes leverage software updates to manipulate products in ways that prioritize internal or partner needs over those of users. Unfortunately, this seems like something we have to get used to, as an increasing number of devices join the Internet of Things and rely on software updates.

Innovations also mean that some companies are among the first to try to make sustainable business models for their products. Sometimes our favorite gadgets are made by young companies or startups with unstable funding that are forced to adapt amid challenging economics or inadequate business strategy. Sometimes, the companies behind our favorite tech products are beholden to investors and pressure for growth. These can lead to projects being abandoned or to software updates that look to squeeze more money out of customers.

As happy as I am to find my smart alarm clock increasingly easy to use, those same software updates could one day lock the features I’ve grown fond of behind a paywall (Hatch already has a subscription option available). Having my alarm clock lose functionality overnight without physical damage isn’t the type of thing I’d have to worry about with a dumb alarm clock, of course.

But that’s the gamble that tech fans take, which makes those privy to the problematic tactics used by smart device manufacturers stay clear from certain products.

Still, when updates provide noticeable, meaningful changes to how people can use their devices, technology feels futuristic, groundbreaking, and exciting. With many companies using updates for their own gain, it’s nice to see some firms take the opportunity to give customers more.

Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She’s been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK.

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