Valve is opening up the gates for SteamOS to take over PC handheld gaming systems. The company revealed in 2024 that it wanted SteamOS to be the best platform for new portable devices and was working with brands like ASUS, Lenovo, and MSI to incorporate the operating system out-of-the-box on new products. That is now officially happening.
Lenovo and Valve have confirmed that SteamOS will ship on the new Legion GO S when the device releases in May. However, if you already own a supported device, you can already start installing a working copy of SteamOS in April.
Valve says the installable version of SteamOS is currently in beta with a planned release for “after March”. The company hasn’t confirmed what models of handhelds it will support at launch. However, Valve has been transparent about what brands it is working with. These brands include ASUS, MSI, and Lenovo. The company also confirmed in August last year that SteamOS officially added support for the ASUS ROG Ally controls.
Of course, SteamOS isn’t the only option. Users have been opting for Bazzite in the time being while Valve has been prepping SteamOS’s official release on other devices. Bazzite is a community project that has seemingly taken off.
Bazzite does have a number of bugs. It also can’t be pre-installed on your device, so you’ll need to install it through Windows first. Think of Bazzite like a free SteamOS client without support from Valve.
SteamOS, on the other hand, is the official bee’s knees. Valve is quality testing the platform on these handheld devices while at the same time, urging brands to partner with the company to ensure a smooth pre-installation process.
This is because the SteamOS on these third-party devices will offer the same experience as the Steam Deck. It will come with the same software updates, bug fixes, and performance enhancements. Essentially, games will run smoother and offer better compatibility with Valve at the helm managing it all. Valve’s clear message here is to make SteamOS a single platform.
The next big hurdle for Valve is offering SteamOS to desktop clients. The company says that if brands want to bring pre-built PCs to the market with SteamOS as the operating system, it would be open to that. The company is likely working on developing an easy method for users to do this at home.
