Valve has confirmed it will provide SteamOS support for third-party gaming handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally in future, with the aim to have the software widely compatible. As reported by , questions arose when the latest SteamOS release notes revealed the addition of support “for extra ROG Ally keys.” The inclusion was considered odd, as Valve has its own gaming handheld – the Steam Deck – and the ROG Ally is a direct (and in ) competitor.
Investigating this note, got in touch with Valve designer Lawrence Yang, who explained the company is indeed purposefully providing support to third-party handhelds. “The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS. The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS,” Yang said.
As notes, Valve has not committed to having SteamOS installed natively on other handheld devices, but it is aiming to make the software compatible, seemingly to improve Steam’s ease of use on all handheld gaming devices. Per comments made by Yang, the team is making “steady progress” on improving overall support, but there’s still some time to go before this software will be fully compatible with alternative devices. We can likely expect tweaks in future SteamOS updates, so that anyone playing games handheld on a non-Steam Deck device will still have a streamlined experience.
While Valve’s preference would obviously be for those players to be playing on Steam Deck, it’s also acknowledged that Steam provides a service for all players, and that even those on an Asus ROG Ally will still be using Steam to run many of their games. For those in countries where the Steam Deck still isn’t sold – Australia and New Zealand included – it’s also nice to see support extended. The reality is not everyone can get a Steam Deck, but Steam remains the most popular gaming platform for PCs and adjacent devices.
Extending support is well appreciated, and should making handheld gaming on the ROG Ally and other devices much simpler going forward. Valve will likely have much more to say about progress on this initiative in future, so stay tuned for new developments..
