Valve says it is still working on adding support for other handhelds. However, SteamOS is not yet ready to be installed.

The release of Valve's SteamOS for handheld gaming devices other than the company's own Steam Deck hasn't quite reached Half-Life 3 levels of can-kick-down-the-roadery. But it's coming.

Last week, we reported a tantalizing hint indicating that Valve's Linux gaming operating system could be about to roll out for Asus's ROG Ally portable. It could still be. We've spoken to Valve designer Lawrence Yang directly and, well, it doesn't appear imminently imminent.

SteamOS isn't yet ready to run on other handhelds, but we are working on adding support," Yang said to PC Gamer after we asked him about a new SteamOS release note that read "Added support for additional ROG Ally Keys".

SteamOS isn’t ready to run on handhelds yet, and Valve hasn’t given a release date. It's encouraging to see that some third-party support is now being included in the beta versions of the OS.

Valve announced that a standalone version of SteamOS would be available soon after the original Steam Deck was launched in February 2022. Valve confirmed last year, when the updated Steam Deck OLED was launched, that it was focused on getting SteamOS onto other portable devices as opposed to a release for any x86 laptop or PC.

We are now in the middle of 2024, and... nothing. Valve is still at work on it, but they don't seem to be preparing anything. You could say that Valve doesn't have a specific reason to release SteamOS on competing handhelds, or as a general version with PC compatibility.

The Steam Deck is a great product, but Valve's incentives aren't as straightforward. SteamOS is a major USP, and the Steam Deck has a lot of it.

Valve should be commended for their efforts, but it will never be easy to ensure a consistent user experience across multiple handheld devices. Even with similar hardware, the performance characteristics can vary. Detail spec differences are also important, such as the wide range of WiFi adapters and screen resolutions.

It's one thing to provide a polished SteamOS experience on a single device in-house, the Steam Deck. It's another to have it run smoothly and consistently across an entire gaggle of third party handhelds, not to mention any old PC.