While other vendors continually push out new handheld pc models, sticking similar internals into different shell designs and gradually bumping up RAM or the Processor, the Steam Deck just keeps selling like hot tasty cakes.
The fact that almost no PC games support ARM is stopping them. When lots game developers start releasing ARM or RISC-V versions, then Valve may consider an ARM or RISC-V Steam Deck. They will still have to have an emulator to run the older x86 games though.
This is where I’m confused. Games for Mac seem to run fine on both Intel Mac and Apple silicone Mac, and run even better on the later.
The only downside is Apple has dropped support for 32bit so it broke a lot of old games.
If Valve can make Proton to bridge the gap between Windows and Linux, I’m sure they can do something to make x86 games run on ARM (just like Apple did and they’re not even focused on gaming, Apple hates gamers)
Apple specifically designed their ARM CPUs to be able to efficiently translate x86 code. A generic ARM CPU won’t be able to get the same performance. Maybe other manufacturers will do the same as ARM PCs get more common.
When lots game developers start releasing ARM or RISC-V versions
That is more than a little funny, given Valve’s release of Proton, and their stance on Native Linux builds (they recommended against it - just use proton)
Someone on Lemmy said that would require Valve to completely rewrite the Proton layer (which they’ve invested tons of time and money in) and probably the SteamOS would require significant overhaul too. And all the backwards compatibility would be thrown out the window.
Or in other words, that would require Valve to completely redesign the Deck from scratch.
Considering the trend seems to be a move towards ARM (see Mac M1, Windows on ARM + Window’s ARM translation layer) - I wouldnt be surprised if they do exactly that, eventually.
There’s already some work that might lead to it. As ARM gains prevalence, I think it’ll happen sooner rather than later - once all of those dependencies do all the hard work. The efficiency of ARM for mobile devices like the Steam Deck really just scream for it
Nothing stopping them from using an ARM processor for the Deck 2
The fact that almost no PC games support ARM is stopping them. When lots game developers start releasing ARM or RISC-V versions, then Valve may consider an ARM or RISC-V Steam Deck. They will still have to have an emulator to run the older x86 games though.
This is where I’m confused. Games for Mac seem to run fine on both Intel Mac and Apple silicone Mac, and run even better on the later.
The only downside is Apple has dropped support for 32bit so it broke a lot of old games.
If Valve can make Proton to bridge the gap between Windows and Linux, I’m sure they can do something to make x86 games run on ARM (just like Apple did and they’re not even focused on gaming, Apple hates gamers)
Apple specifically designed their ARM CPUs to be able to efficiently translate x86 code. A generic ARM CPU won’t be able to get the same performance. Maybe other manufacturers will do the same as ARM PCs get more common.
That is more than a little funny, given Valve’s release of Proton, and their stance on Native Linux builds (they recommended against it - just use proton)
Someone on Lemmy said that would require Valve to completely rewrite the Proton layer (which they’ve invested tons of time and money in) and probably the SteamOS would require significant overhaul too. And all the backwards compatibility would be thrown out the window.
Or in other words, that would require Valve to completely redesign the Deck from scratch.
Considering the trend seems to be a move towards ARM (see Mac M1, Windows on ARM + Window’s ARM translation layer) - I wouldnt be surprised if they do exactly that, eventually.
There’s already some work that might lead to it. As ARM gains prevalence, I think it’ll happen sooner rather than later - once all of those dependencies do all the hard work. The efficiency of ARM for mobile devices like the Steam Deck really just scream for it
Id say the fiasco with the m1 chip and compatibility is staying their hand pretty firmly lol