Valve’s Gabe Newell has dropped yet more hints that the Steam creator is working on a standalone VR headset of its own.
In another interview surrounding the release of the portable Steam Deck device — this time from Eurogamer — Newell alluded to how work with Valve’s current VR offerings had helped build the new handheld. Similarly, work on Steam Deck could then go on to influence what the company does next in VR.
“You know, all of these things relate to each other, right? A lot of the technology that we might be using and future versions of that comes, you know, from technology that we have to develop for VR,” Newell explained. “And then if you flip it around and you look at that as like a highly performant mobile PC gaming device, you sort of say, well, why can’t I have that in a tetherless integrated VR solution?”
“With headsets, you have a lot more ability to do things like neuromodulation or the direct sensors and stuff on people’s heads, or you’re looking at information that’s easy to convey through sensors close to somebody’s hands,” he continued. “All of these things tend to snowball over time, and with each one of them we think what are we going to learn? What are we going to help software developers do? How does that translate into building compelling solutions for gamers?”
Valve has been hinting at the possibility of a standalone VR headset ever since Steam Deck was announced last year, with Newell recently branding the device as a “stepping stone” to it. With that said, in last week’s interview he also noted that Valve wasn’t “really there yet” when it came to actually building the device and, given Steam Deck pre-orders are already backlogged into next year, we’re not likely to see it anytime soon.
Still, reports from 2021 indicate that Valve is working on the device, currently codenamed ‘Deckard’. Just don’t hold your breath for an announcement anytime soon.
