TechPowerUp's team conducted research to find out how the market for handheld consoles performs and where its users are mostly going. The large community poll of 22,649 PC gamers, asking a simple "Do you game on a handheld console?" paints a solid picture of the customer base that a handheld console maker can expect. The majority, at 65.3% of the polled gamers, have chosen the option "No," indicating that two-thirds of PC gamers spend time on their main desktop or notebook PCs without using an additional handheld console. Among the 34.7% of respondents (7,852 votes) who game on the go, Valve's Steam Deck leads with 2,798 votes (35.6%), narrowly edging out Nintendo's Switch at 2,785 votes (35.5%).

ASUS's ROG Ally follows with 913 votes (11.6%), while "Other" devices, including Android emulators, retro‑focused units like the Analogue Pocket, and various mini‑PC handhelds, account for 810 votes (10.3%). Boutique Windows handhelds trail further behind, with the Lenovo Legion Go claiming 280 votes (3.6%) and the MSI Claw 266 votes (3.4%). Out of the entire fleet of these handhelds, only the Nintendo Switch is a real console. Others are mini portable PCs, which can serve functionality far beyond those of a console. Gamers are fond of the added functionality, which is why the Steam Deck, running Linux and Windows-based handhelds from ASUS, MSI, Lenovo, and others, are so popular.

Valve has rolled out a significant upgrade to its in-game performance tools with the June 17 Beta client update. Instead of a simple FPS counter, Steam now offers a full Performance Monitor that tracks frame rate alongside CPU and GPU utilization, clock speeds, temperatures, and memory usage. Players can view real-time graphs for each metric or opt for a pared-down display showing only FPS. The overlay also flags when frame-generation features like DLSS or FSR are active, clearly separating true rendered frames from those created by upscaling technology. This clarity helps gamers understand whether a smooth experience results from extra generated frames or genuine improvements in rendering.

Competitive and detail-focused users will appreciate knowing both the true game-frame counts and upscaled FPS so they can fine-tune settings based on actual performance. If the monitor shows full GPU memory, reducing texture quality becomes an obvious fix, and if CPU usage is maxed out, dialing back physics or draw distance may be the answer. Currently, the Performance Monitor is only available to Steam Beta participants. Valve plans to roll out additional metrics over time and notes that not every feature will be compatible with every system from the start. Anyone curious to try the new tools should switch to the beta client and explore the updated overlay options. Once these features reach full release, millions of PC gamers will have powerful diagnostics at their fingertips, making it easier than ever to balance visual quality with smooth performance.

Valve released its latest May 2025 Steam Survey results, and Linux gaming is on the rise. According to Valve, the usage of Linux kernel-based operating systems among Steam users increased by 0.42% to reach 2.69%, marking one of the highest levels the platform has seen. Windows remains the dominant operating system, at 95.45%, with macOS holding 1.85%. However, Linux's growth is significant for open-source enthusiasts. Given the continued expansion of Steam's user base, the absolute number of Linux gamers is likely at an all-time high now, with hopes of continued growth. The infamous year of Linux on the desktop is actually this year's Linux on handheld. In May 2023, Linux accounted for just 1.47 percent of Steam users, rising to 2.32 percent in May 2024 before this latest increase.

This upward trend has been driven in large part by Valve's SteamOS, which is based on Arch Linux and powers the popular Steam Deck handheld console. As more people adopt the Steam Deck and install SteamOS on desktop machines, the Linux gaming community on Steam continues to grow steadily. SteamOS is also expanding to more handheld devices, and more companies are launching and experimenting with handhelds using other Linux distributions. Improvements at the kernel level and enhanced driver support from AMD and Intel have also contributed to this surge. Besides more driver optimization, the Wine-based compatibility layer, Proton, has undergone numerous updates to enhance performance and stability, often achieving comparability with and sometimes outperforming Windows.

GeForce NOW is supercharging Valve's Steam Deck with a new native app—delivering the high-quality GeForce RTX-powered gameplay members are used to on a portable handheld device. It's perfect to pair with the six new games available this week, including Tokyo Xtreme Racing from Japanese game developer Genki.

Stream Deck
At the CES trade show in January, GeForce NOW announced a native app for the Steam Deck, unlocking the full potential of Valve's handheld device for cloud gaming. The app is now available, and gamers can stream titles on the Steam Deck at up to 4K 60 frames per second—connected to a TV—with HDR10, NVIDIA DLSS 4 and Reflex technologies on supported titles. Plus, members can run these games at settings and performance levels that aren't possible natively on the Steam Deck. To top it off, Steam Deck users can enjoy up to 50% longer battery life when streaming from an RTX gaming rig in the cloud.

Valve Corporation pushed back on reports of a massive Steam user data sale. The company says that what surfaced online was not evidence of a breach of Steam's systems but rather an archive of older SMS messages. Security outlet BleepingComputer reported that a hacker was offering roughly 89 million records for about $5,000. Those records allegedly included one-time passcodes sent to Steam users by text message along with their phone numbers. According to Valve, all of the codes were expired by the time they landed in the hacker's hands, and none of the files included any passwords, payment details, or direct ties between phone numbers and Steam accounts. Valve's statement reads, "This was not a breach of Steam systems. The data consisted of older text messages containing one-time codes valid for only 15 minutes and the phone numbers they were sent to. There is no account information, passwords, payment information or other personal data in that cache."

The company also reminded users that whenever an SMS code is used to change a Steam email address or password, they will receive confirmations by email and through Steam's secure messaging system. The incident prompted speculation that third-party messaging provider Twilio might have been hacked. A user on X, formerly Twitter, suggested that Twilio was to blame, but both Valve and a Twilio spokesperson denied the claim. Twilio said it found no evidence that its infrastructure was involved, and Valve confirmed it does not use Twilio for Steam authentication texts. Valve says users do not need to change their passwords or phone numbers, but it encourages everyone to enable the Steam Mobile Authenticator for stronger protection. The company's security team is still investigating how these historical messages were exposed.

Valve is rolling out a new SteamOS Compatibility rating system to cover every device running SteamOS, not just the Steam Deck. This Steam Deck Verified program extension arrives as Lenovo's Legion Go S, running SteamOS, prepares to ship to customers. Valve hopes the added visibility will help players decide which games will work smoothly on their hardware. Under this system, a game and all its middleware, including launchers, anti‑cheat tools, and so forth, must be fully supported on SteamOS to earn the "SteamOS Compatible" label. Titles not meeting these requirements will be marked "SteamOS Unsupported." Valve emphasizes that this initial rollout focuses solely on basic compatibility. It does not yet include performance benchmarks or input testing, since hardware variations can lead to very different frame rates and control experiences.

Valve expects to award SteamOS Compatible ratings to over 18,000 games at launch. Developers who have already gone through the Steam Deck Verified process do not need to take any additional steps. An automated system will convert existing Steam Deck test results into SteamOS ratings. Games that have not been tested before will enter the same community‑driven evaluation queue, with both Steam Deck and SteamOS results published together once testing finishes. For players using SteamOS on devices other than the Steam Deck, the Steam Store and Steam Client will clearly display the new compatibility badges. If you are browsing on a Legion Go S or any other supported device, you will see the SteamOS Compatible or Unsupported icon alongside the existing Steam Deck Verified icon. On non‑SteamOS platforms, these labels will not appear, and the store will function as it does today. Valve plans to update the Steam client's interface and publish the initial batch of compatibility data in the next few weeks.

Not too long ago, Storm City Retro's Ebay store listed an unusual Steam Deck model—the original asking price was $2999.99, although potential buyers were allowed to bid with "best offers." The sales page was titled: "Early Valve Engineering 34 Prototype Steam Deck 256 GB, Tested, Please Read!" Gary_the_mememachine—a member of the Steam Deck subreddit—reported an eventual successful transaction, on April 8. The seller—a "primarily online" Kirkland, Washington-based retro video specialist—managed to attract a buyer; who apparently bagged "Engineering Sample No. 34" for a cool two thousand bucks. Given the presence of a sticker that states "not for resale," Valve is likely not enthused by the appearance of pre-commercial phase hardware via second hand channels. The company's Bellevue HQ is located not too far away from Storm City Retro's placement; both being in the Greater Seattle (Pacific NW) area. Kotaku reached out to its contacts at Valve, but a spokesperson has not provided a comment regarding the alleged leak of an AMD "Picasso" APU-powered engineering sample.

Handheld gaming device experts have analyzed saved screenshots and photos; prototype number 34 seems to of February 2020 vintage. It was compared to various "officially revealed" prototype units—as seen in an informative infographic. An exact match was not found in this compilation, but it is obvious that No. 34 differs greatly—externally and internally—when lined up against final retail models. In 2022, Pierre-Loup Griffais—one of the architects of SteamOS—provided some insight about a similar looking proto device: "the best part is that they (mostly) all still boot, serving as an exciting reminder of how far things have come since. This one has a Picasso APU, at about half of the GPU power of the final Deck. The flatter ergo was an interesting experiment and taught us a ton about comfort." The Steam Deck LCD model launched back in early 2022, with a custom 7 nm AMD Ryzen "Aerith" APU onboard—utilizing Zen 2 + processor cores and RDNA 2 graphics architecture. An OLED refresh arrived over a year later with a die shrink; now 6 nm. Team Red had kindly prepared a more efficient Ryzen "Sephiroth" mobile processor design.

A new resident is moving into the cloud—KRAFTON's inZOI joins the 2,000+ games in the GeForce NOW cloud gaming library. Plus, members can get ready for an exclusive sneak peek as the Sunderfolk First Look Demo comes to the cloud. The demo is exclusively available for players on GeForce NOW until April 7, including Performance and Ultimate members as well as free users. And explore the world of Atomfall—part of 12 games joining the cloud this week.

Cloud of Possibilities
In inZOI—a groundbreaking life simulation game by Krafton that pushes the genre's boundaries—take on the role of an intern at AR COMPANY, managing virtual beings called "Zois" in a simulated city. The game features over 400 mental elements influencing Zois' behaviors. Experience the game's dynamic weather system, open-world environments inspired by real locations and cinematic cut scenes for key life events—and even create in-game objects. inZOI lets players craft unique stories and live out their dreams in a meticulously designed virtual world. Dive into the world of Zois without the need for high-end hardware. Members can manage their virtual homes, customize characters and explore the game's dynamic environments from various devices, streaming its detailed graphics and complex simulations with ease.

We are inching closer to Valve releasing an official, unmodified version of SteamOS for third-party handhelds and PCs, a significant push to broaden its gaming ecosystem beyond the Steam Deck. While the final build remains pending, tech reviewer The Phawx recently showcased an unofficial SteamOS 3.8 installation on the ASUS ROG Ally (2023), offering a glimpse into its current capabilities—and limitations. Running on Ally's Ryzen Z1 Extreme chip, SteamOS already delivers solid performance in titles like Batman: Arkham Knight (73.3 FPS) and Horizon Zero Dawn (55.9 FPS) at 720p. However, challenges persist: hardware-specific features like Ally's VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) work, but its TDP controls and dedicated buttons remain non-functional. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Steam Deck narrowly outperformed the Ally (47.8 vs. 45.8 FPS), a result attributed to Valve's bespoke optimizations for its own hardware. The lack of TDP adjustment also led to inefficiencies, with some games defaulting to 20 W power draws.

Valve's upcoming "Powered by SteamOS" branding initiative aims to standardize third-party integrations, requiring partners to use official system images and launch directly into SteamOS. Early collaborations, like Lenovo's CES-announced Legion Go S, also contribute to this goal. Meanwhile, updates like SteamOS 3.6.19 have expanded support for devices such as the ROG Ally and third-party controllers, suggesting broader compatibility ahead. Valve's expansion could position SteamOS as a rival to Windows in the portable PC space, leveraging its gaming-first interface and growing developer support. While The Phawx's demo has shown SteamOS's potential, Valve's official release—expected to resolve current hardware quirks—will determine its viability for partners. As competition heats up, SteamOS's success may hinge on balancing open accessibility with the tailored optimizations that made the Steam Deck a hit. Further software tweaks will bring ecosystem stability and improved performance, and we expect Valve's partners to join and develop better integration with SteamOS, too.

On more than one occasion, Assassin's Creed Shadows developer, Ubisoft, has assured gamers that the upcoming Assassin's Creed title set in feudal Japan would be playable on the Steam Deck and, by extension, desktop Linux, via Valve's Proton. Ubisoft, however, was seemingly convinced that Shadows would not get the official Steam Deck Verified rating in time for release. In mid-February 2025, Ubisoft confirmed via a Steam Community post that the Steam Deck did not meet the minimum hardware requirements necessary for a smooth gameplay experience, but today, Ubisoft announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows will be Steam Deck Verified on launch day.

This comes after Ubisoft also announced that Assassin's Creed Shadows will also support day-one Steam Achievements, as opposed to other Assassin's Creed games, which only got Steam Achievements later on. According to the post announcing the Steam Deck Verified status, Ubisoft's development team had to put significant work into optimizing Assassin's Creed Shadows to get it to run properly on the Steam Deck. Perhaps somewhat frustratingly, it seems as though Ubisoft is forcing Steam Deck players into a pre-determined set of graphics settings, with no ability to tweak them at launch on the Steam Deck. There will apparently be multiple upscalers from which players can choose, although Ubisoft did not specify what the options would be.

A mysterious GameSir wireless gaming controller appeared online late last year, courtesy of video footage uploaded by an unidentified tester. The presence of a Steam logo on the leaked device's central "home/guide" button sent speculation activities into overdrive. The so-called GameSir "Steam Deck Controller" was linked back to a teased Xbox-licensed G7 Pro wireless controller—both designs seem to share a white/gray aesthetic and control layout. At CES 2025, TechPowerUp staffers were fortunate enough to experience hands-on time with GameSir's upcoming Xbox-branded flagship model. Curious visitors did not spot any sign of Steam/Valve-related products at the company's Las Vegas booth. Game Tech Talk—a YouTube channel that covers the latest in handheld gadgets—managed to conduct an interview with Betta; GameSir's CEO. Their virtual discussion was uploaded two (or so) days ago; the 28-minute video explores current and forthcoming products.

When asked about the unannounced "G7 Pro Valve Edition" (aka unofficial Steam Deck Controller), Betta admitted that he was behind last year's leak. This guerilla marketing tactic produced a lot of reactions and feedback from the hardcore gaming controller community; all taken onboard by the young entrepreneur. Betta said that his personal prototype was "hacked together" in order to provide proof of concept to Valve, although he states that GameSir only has a loose relationship with the House of Half-Life. The G7 Pro controller served as a basic foundation for the Steam-oriented variant—with added motion controller capabilities, capacitive stick technology, independently addressable back buttons, and integration into Valve's operating "ecosystem." The fledgling project awaits an official signing-off—with agreements over licensing, branding, software support, etc.—but a firm connection between the two parties is not yet established. Apparently, there were brief interactions during January's CES event. Betta believes that: "people at Valve are pretty hard to reach." GameSir leadership is "figuring out" a plan; they hope to form a direct connection to Valve HQ in the near future.

Valve's Steam platform has achieved a historic milestone. On Sunday, March 3, 2025, SteamDB reported a record-breaking 40,270,997 concurrent users online—marking the first time the service has surpassed 40 million simultaneous logins. This eclipses the previous peak of 39 million set just three months prior in December 2024, during the holiday season when gamers typically spend most resources on gaming. To showcase Steam's exponential growth over the past decade, in 2015, the platform's concurrent user count hovered below 9 million. Steam's influence extends far beyond daily engagement. According to PCGamer, the platform now boasts over 220 million monthly active users, a significant jump from its confirmed 132 million monthly users in 2021.

Steam's dominance is attributed to its vast game library and accessibility. In 2006, only 70 titles were released on the platform. By 2024, that figure skyrocketed to 18,920 games, catering to diverse player preferences. As a free service compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, and mobile devices (via a 2012 app launch), Steam has become a ubiquitous hub for gamers. Its success is further fueled by seasonal sales, community features, and seamless updates, fostering loyalty among its user base. Valve even banned games that force users to watch ads, suggesting that game developers need a new monetization method instead of annoying ads. This latest record reflects broader trends in gaming, including increased global connectivity and the rise of PC gaming as a mainstream hobby. With Valve continuing to innovate—through hardware ventures like the Steam Deck and software enhancements—the platform's cultural and commercial footprint shows no signs of slowing.

A Valve-designed next-gen VR headset is a compelling prospect, but not many details have emerged online since the company's (2022) teasing of new developments. Press outlets noticed a September 2023 registration of a mysterious device in South Korea; following this discovery, many anticipated a steady flow of leaks. Relative silence ensued; brewing speculation that Valve Corporation had shelved another top secret project. Fast-forward to the present day; Gabe Follower—a self-confessed Valve/Half Life 3 tipster—believes that all systems are go for a codenamed "Deckard" VR headset. The amusingly-named leaker (referencing Gabe Newell) claims to have an inside track: "several people have confirmed that Valve is aiming to release new standalone, wireless VR headset (codename Deckard) by the end of 2025. The current price for the full bundle is set to be $1200. Including some "in-house" games (or demos) that are already done. Valve want to give the user the best possible experience without cutting any costs."

The "Index" was Valve's first attempt at cornering the VR gaming market, but the buying public (back in 2019) largely favored rival models. A long-gestating follow-up would need to really "hit it out of the park," when placed against a new generation of competing hardware. Valve's alleged Blade Runner-themed device, was linked to a set of previously leaked VR controllers; codenamed "Roy." Additionally, Gabe Follower reckons that Valve is prepared to make financial sacrifices, in order to establish a foothold within an extremely competitive market: "even at the current price, it will be sold at a loss. A few months ago, we saw leaked models of controllers—Roy—in the SteamVR update. It will be using the same SteamOS from Steam Deck, but adapted for virtual reality. One of the core features is the ability to play flat-screen games that are already playable on Steam Deck, but in VR on a big screen without a PC. The first behind closed doors presentations could start soon."

Valve has updated its Steam platform policies to prevent mobile-style advertising practices from infiltrating the PC gaming market. The new guidelines, recently added to the Steam Terms of Service, explicitly ban any game that requires players to watch or interact with advertisements to progress. Under the revised rules, developers must eliminate any ad systems that force players to engage with promotional content as a prerequisite for gameplay. Games that rely on mandatory ads for rewards or advancement will not be permitted on Steam. While cross-promotional partnerships and product placements remain acceptable, the forced ad model is no longer supported. Mobile games often burden players with unwanted commercial interruptions. Developers are now encouraged to pursue alternative monetization strategies, such as single-purchase models, optional microtransactions, or downloadable content packages.

"If your game's revenue relies on advertising on other platforms, you will need to find a new monetization model in order to release on Steam."—states Valve pricing guide. In addition to banning forced advertisements, Valve has introduced a new feature for early-access titles. This functionality displays the time elapsed since the last update, offering players greater transparency regarding game development progress. By drawing a clear line against aggressive in-game advertising, Valve is fighting smartphone-style ads that force players into watching unwanted content. Valve's commitment to ecosystem quality ensures that Steam remains a trusted platform for gamers seeking pure gaming and ad-free experiences. Other platforms are likely to follow suit.

Extas1s is a prominent name in the rumor arena, who has provided trustworthy information in the past. Joining hands with HandleDeck, the duo recently made an interesting claim of Valve secretly working on a Steam Console of sorts, or perhaps some sort of eGPU for the Steam Deck. To back up their claims, the duo cited the fact that Valve is putting quite a lot of effort into drivers for AMD's soon-to-be released Radeon RX 9070 GPUs, and since those are desktop-only parts, a stationary console that will allow Valve to lock horns with Sony and Microsoft is likely in the works.

However, it appears that the duo may have rushed to a conclusion instead of considering the facts on the table. GamingOnLinux, who was quick to respond to the claims made by HandleDeck and Extas1s, stated that Valve working on AMD drivers for future hardware is nothing out of the ordinary, adding that Valve invests in a "lot of different areas for Linux", and not just the areas that concern their own products, which is absolutely true. This time around, the speculations arose when a Valve developer commented that Mesa drivers support for RDNA 4 cards should be good enough.

A new Steam Deck mod is here, and the performance improvements that it brings to the table appear to be quite promising, thanks to the magic of frame generation. The gaming handheld is not exactly the most performant in terms of raw GPU performance, so technologies such as AMD's FSR 3 undoubtedly improve the gaming experience on the Deck by quite a substantial degree. Dubbed Decky Framegen, the plugin utilizes AMD FSR 3 to generate frames without having to go about rendering them, thereby increasing FPS quite a lot.

As of right now, this plugin allows gamers to employ frame generation in unsupported games such as Final Fantasy XVI, Witcher 3, Hogwarts Legacy, and a few others. Deck Wizard's detailed video reveals that the plugin does quite a good job, allowing for playable framerates in several titles. However, the games which are unable to manage 30 FPS are unlikely to benefit much, owing to the issues surrounding input lag. Moreover, a few graphical glitches here and there are also to be expected, which is something that many purists might not entirely be willing to deal with. Considering that Valve recently shot rumors of an AMD Ryzen Z2-powered Steam Deck 2 being in the works, there is no denying that those holding out for hardware improvements, still have a fair amount of waiting to do.

Mid-week, a member of Valve's Linux graphics driver team updated the Mesa 25.0 documentation with an insightful note—in which, Samuel Pitoiset (lead developer of the RADV open-source driver) shared an early observation regarding AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 generation. The software engineer and his colleagues are busy getting everything finalized prior to an impending Mesa 25.0 feature freeze. Wednesday's patch notes reveal the outlook for "GFX12 on RADV"—Pitoiset seemed satisfied about "initial support expectations—he reckoned that it: "should be good enough, but it's missing two features (cooperative matrix and video decode/encode), compared to GFX11 (RDNA 3) because lack of time. DCC is still under active development, but it might be possible to finish it during the RC period."

According to Phoronix's expert opinion, the two missing features are not complete "show-stoppers" for potential buyers of first wave RDNA 4 GPUs. The site's editor-in-chief—Michael Larabel—posits that the "vast majority of those wanting to buy the Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards (when they launch in March)" will not be discouraged by the inceptive absence of RADV Vulkan Video and VK_KHR_cooperative_matrix. He added some post-publication clarification regarding the RADV patch notes: "this is only about Vulkan Video, not VA-API video acceleration... It seems some readers are taking this to mean VA-API support for the new VCN block isn't ready for RDNA 4. It's just the RADV Vulkan Video support that isn't complete." Mesa 25.0 is expected to reach a stable release stage by the end of February—just ahead of Team Red's next-gen desktop GPU launch. Late last week, an AMD official divulged that their team would be: "taking a little extra time to optimize the software stack for maximum performance" on Radeon RX 9070 XT and Radeon RX 9070 (non-XT) graphics cards.

Comcast is introducing the first customers in the world to a pioneering new, ultra-low lag connectivity experience when they use interactive applications like gaming, videoconferencing, and virtual reality. With the launch, Xfinity Internet latency will be dramatically reduced to faster than the blink of an eye, currently when using FaceTime on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and Apple Vision Pro, apps on Meta's mixed reality headsets that will support this technology, NVIDIA's GeForce NOW, many games on Valve's Steam games platform, and in the future on other applications that choose to leverage this open standard technology.

"Our connectivity is the key to unlocking a world of entertainment, sports, news and information and we're constantly pushing the limits of network innovation to create an experience that exceeds the expanding demands of our customers," said Emily Waldorf, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products, Comcast Connectivity and Platforms. "Modern applications are real-time and interactive and require more than just fast speeds. Xfinity Internet's lower lag times will be a differentiator for Comcast."

With Lenovo's announcement at CES 2025 of the Lenovo Legion Go S, we are pleased to share that their "Powered by SteamOS" model is the first handheld officially licensed to ship with Valve's SteamOS. We built this operating system to provide a seamless user experience optimized for gaming, while retaining access to the power and flexibility of a PC. SteamOS is the same operating system we run on Steam Deck, and the team is making updates to ensure it fully supports the Lenovo Legion Go S and provides the same seamless experience customers expect.

In addition, the same work that we are doing to support the Lenovo Legion Go S will improve compatibility with other handhelds. Ahead of Legion Go S shipping, we will be shipping a beta of SteamOS which should improve the experience on other handhelds, and users can download and test this themselves. And of course we'll continue adding support and improving the experience with future releases.

Every year, Valve holds The Steam Game Awards, a community-driven initiative to recognize the best games that were launched in that year. Valve has just released the results for the 2024 Steam Game Awards, which are determined by community vote—as opposed to events like The Game Awards, which feature a jury selection—and split into individual categories. This year, though, the overall winner for Game of the Year was Black Myth Wukong, which beat out other finalists: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2, Balatro, and Helldivers 2 for top spot. Game of the Year wasn't Wukong's only victory, either, with the game also taking home the "Outstanding Story-Rich Game Award," which seems logical given its overall victory, and the cleverly named "Best Game You Suck At Award," which is meant to highlight the best difficult game of the year. In this category, Black Myth Wukong was up against Dragon Ball Z Sparkling Zero, The Finals, Ghost of Tsushima, and Tekken 8, which is again a very diverse mix of games and genres, so it's somewhat interesting to see a narrative-driven game like Wukong come out ahead here.

The rest of the Steam Game Awards 2024 was less of a one-man show, with Metro Awakening VR taking Best VR Game of the Year, Elden Ring nabbing the Labor of Love Award, and God of War Ragnarök taking the Best Game on Steam Deck Award. Helldivers 2 won Better with Friends, while Silent Hill 2 took home the Outstanding Visual Style Award, Liar's Bar won Most Innovative Gameplay, Red Dead Redemption won Best Soundtrack Award, and Farming Simulator 25 was crowned with the Sit Back and Relax award, beating out the likes or Webfishing, House Flipper 2, and Tiny Glade. One of the more surprising "minor" awards winners here is God of War Ragnarök taking home Best Game on Steam Deck, since you often hear in discourse around the Steam Deck that it's not suitable for AAA gaming, and God of War is only two years old at the time of writing, meaning it is still very demanding, with an NVIDIA GTX 1060 6 GB quoted as the minimum recommended GPU to play the game.

It is no surprise that Lenovo is cooking up the next-generation of Legion Go consoles for launch next month. We have reported on a plethora of leaks surrounding both the affordable Legion Go S, and the Legion Go 2 handheld gaming consoles. Finally, it appears that there is some concrete information regarding their launch - Lenovo, in an email to The Verge, has confirmed new Legion handhelds are dropping next month. But that's not all - according to The Verge, the launch event will have a surprise guest.

Our readers who have been keeping tabs on the Legion Go 2 rumor cycle will recall that we recently reported on a leaked image of the upcoming Legion Go S which had an interesting detail - the handheld features a dedicated button for Steam. Now, of course, we're completely in the dark regarding what that button's presence entails. It is entirely possible that the button is simply for opening the Steam app, or, it could indicate that the Legion Go 2 might run SteamOS - we simply don't know yet.

In October, we reported that Asahi Linux had made some pretty substantial progress in getting Linux working on Apple Silicon, with a custom GPU driver counting itself as the first OpenGL 3.0 compliant graphics driver for Apple Silicon. Now, according to a recent Fedora Magazine post, Asahi Linux now has a Fedora 41 Remix. The Fedora Asahi 41 Remix is still based on that same Asahi version from October 10, but it incorporates the myriad advancements from Fedora 41 and an improved Vulkan 1.4-conformant driver.

By default, Fedora Asahi Remix 41 ships with Plasma 6.2, although a GNOME 47 version is also available. However, despite using a Wayland-first dekstop environment as its default, Fedora Asahi 41 Remix will still be X11-first, for compatibility reasons. The Asahi team plans on getting Wayland working eventually, but there are technical hurdles to overcome before that is possible. Fedora Asahi Remix also ships by default with the improved DNF 5 package manager and the massively improved GIMP 3.0 image editor pre-installed as part of Plasma 6.2. Having a Fedora Remix for Asahi also provides a familiar experience for gamers on Apple Silicon Macs to get Windows games up and running via a mix of tools like Valve's Proton dxvk, FEX emulator, and vk3d-proton—check out our previous coverage of Asahi to find out more about which games are currently working. There are still a handful of hiccups when it comes to running Linux on Apple Silicon, including hardware incompatibilities, like a lack of Thunderbolt, microphone, Touch ID, and USB-C Display support.

Refurbished Steam Decks have been a more affordable way to get into the handheld gaming PC space for a while now, but Valve just announced that it has now added the OLED version of the Steam Deck to its official refurbished device line-up. Now, you can get your hands on a Steam Deck OLED for as little as $439 for the 512 GB variant or $519 for the 1 TB version—a healthy $110 and $130 cheaper compared to new units, respectively.

Valve claims the refurbished Steam Deck units—generally customer returns—are functionally identical to new stock units, and it says that there is a strict inspection and testing process for all returned Steam Decks that go into the refurbished program. The only material difference between factory new and refurbished units are "cosmetic defects to be small blemishes or scratches (on the plastic casing, not the screen) generally caused from normal handling of the unit," and these will obviously vary from device to device. In case anything goes wrong, Valve offers the same warranty and support for the refurbished units as it does for its factory new Steam Decks. Unfortunately, the refurbished Steam Deck OLEDs are only available in Canada, the EU, the UK, and the US. Other regions are stuck with regular MSRP Steam Decks or third-party refurbished or used handheld consoles.

Valve's headquarters is cooking something big, as the company has unveiled new branding guidelines for "Powered by SteamOS" as it prepares to expand SteamOS support for third-party handhelds and PCs. The branding guidelines include various cases. First in line is for games, which can carry a "Steam" logotype, showing that the game is available and runs on Steam. Next up is the "Steam Included" logo, which officially certifies that a hardware product comes with the Steam client pre-installed. To display this logo, manufacturers must comply with Valve's Steam Client Distribution Agreement and integrate the Steam client in its approved form—either as a bootloader or fully compiled software. What we are most interested in is the "Powered by SteamOS" logo, which certifies that a hardware device runs SteamOS as its primary operating system and launches directly into SteamOS when powered on, requiring hardware manufacturers and partners to use the official Steam system image either provided directly by Valve or developed in close partnership with Valve.

The "Steam Compatible" logo certifies that a third-party input peripheral has been reviewed by Valve and meets their established compatibility criteria for use with Steam on PCs, with manufacturers receiving licensing rights after Valve's verification of the device's implementation. Finally, the "Steam Play Here" logo identifies brick-and-mortar establishments with access to Steam games through the Steam PC Café Server, including commercial PC cafés, university computer labs, libraries, and trade shows, allowing these locations to promote their Steam gaming capabilities through window displays and interior signage, with all participating venues required to operate under the official Steam PC Café system guidelines.

Steam's monthly hardware and software surveys provide a decent picture of what hardware and software gamers rely on to play their favorite games—at least those on Valve's game platform. Since the launch of Windows 11, it has been a somewhat reliable way to track the adoption of the new Windows version, and, as the official cut-off for Windows 10 support draws near, one would expect Windows 11 to pick up steam, especially among gamers, where Windows is the dominant OS. The results of the November Steam Survey are in, and while not much has changed on the hardware front, it seems like Microsoft is indeed wearing gamers down when it comes to Windows 11 adoption. Despite seeing a decent uptick in Windows 11 installations, the overall Windows market share dropped, even if almost imperceptibly, while Linux and macOS both saw a slight uptick in adoption among Steam gamers. As expected, Windows remained the dominant platform for gamers, but Windows 11, specifically, saw growth of 4.18%, while Windows 10 lost 4.15%, which is almost an exact 1:1 match, indicating that gamers are largely staying on Windows when they finally decide to move on from Windows 10. Overall, Windows lost 0.05% market share, compared to Linux, which gained 0.03% and macOS, which grew by 0.02%.

Valve's SteamOS Holo was the most popular Linux version in the survey, but it, too, slid by 0.28%. Of course, the hardware split for Linux is representative of the software side of things, which is to say: It's mostly just Steam Decks. As expected, most of the video cards and CPUs in the Linux results were AMD GPUs, with well over 36% of the sampled Linux gamers using AMD GPUs, even disregarding the obvious bias introduced by the AMD-powered Steam Deck hardware. The most popular NVIDIA GPU on Linux systems running Steam is currently the GeForce RTX 3060, at a mere 1.46% of the market share. Meanwhile, on Windows side, 5.03% of gamers are using the GTX 3060, with the next most popular GPU being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU, at 4.92%.