Lenovo has unveiled the first true Steam Deck alternative with SteamOS... And even an early next-gen Legion Go prototype

[Windows Central]

Lenovo unleashed its next generation of gaming hardware at CES 2025, including the sleek Legion Go S with SteamOS and a Legion Go (Gen 2) prototype.

Lenovo has unveiled the first true Steam Deck alternative with SteamOS... And even an early next-gen Legion Go prototype : Read more

 

[HeyCori]

Ultimately, I think this signals the slow death of Windows based handhelds. Despite the recent addition of Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI, smaller manufacturers have been making Windows handhelds for years.

You'd think that with the big boys stepping in, that would have prompted Nadella to do literally anything to improve Windows handhelds. Even something as basic as a launcher that sits on top of Windows (like Android) would have been helpful. Instead, many Windows handhelds still require attaching a physical keyboard during setup because there's no guarantee that the onscreen keyboard will work.

So I'm not surprised to see OEMs testing Steam because it provides a better user experience, and cheaper due to not having to license Windows. The second loser is Epic (and everyone else not named Steam) because now there's one less reason to buy games from another store.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

Funny how as right when people are talking about Microsoft considering licensing the Xbox OS for OEMs, Valve just immediately does it. If this is set to continue Valve might seriously disrupt the console market and that's been needed for a long time. Nintendo, Sony, and Xbox do need to wake up. Gaming has moved beyond their walled gardens. Xbox is currently the one closest to a more expansive and open ecosystem, but they also can't quite pick a lane. And hey, I'll be the first to admit that even I'm skeptical they can pull it off. An Xbox OEM could potentially be a massive mess and start to move Xbox "consoles" to the optimization and consistency hellscape on PC. I'm very interested in seeing how SteamOS does as it opens up to third party hardware.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

Ultimately, I think this signals the slow death of Windows based handhelds. Despite the recent addition of Lenovo, ASUS, and MSI, smaller manufacturers have been making Windows handhelds for years.

I mean you said it yourself, Windows based handhelds have been around for years long before the current push: they aren't going away. This is the start of Valve really pushing SteamOS as an alternative gaming operating system, but SteamOS is still not windows. As stated it only has access to a singular storefront/launcher and doesn't support every game (even those on Steam). While it is expected that Valve will inevitably grow the list of supported games, they will never make that every game just due to compatibility issues with legacy software and licensing and what not. SteamOS currently still has issues with DRM and anticheat games.

Not everything has to be the death of something else. That's one thing I really hate seeing on the internet. The overexaggerated XYZ-killer. Even now I'm seeing a LOT of news articles titled that the Steam Deck is dead because of this. It's like people want to live in a monopoly. I see this as a good wave of healthy competition. Much needed healthy competition. It's not like an alternative to windows for gaming is new. Heck, current windows handheld users have been able to download Bazzite (which offers a SteamOS like experience) for the longest. As a gaming OS, Windows has been sitting on its laurels for the past well ever. They were the default only option for the most part and knew that. Microsoft hasn't really done anything to actually stay competitive in the space (even when they literally created a gaming platform in Xbox). Now Apple is pushing more for PC gaming support on MacOS and through SteamOS Valve is heralding gaming on Linux. The majority of gamers are still going to be on windows for a long time and every PC game will likely continue to support windows in a way they just don't or can't on other operating systems. Not to mention that the vast majority of benefits that people equate to PC gaming will continue to only be available on Windows and when it comes to non-gaming uses Windows will continue to offer users a lot as well. Part of the allure of a Windows handheld is that it's just a Windows PC and that makes it usable for work and play.

I think it's very telling that Microsoft sent an Xbox exec to this event specifically to be part of the PC gaming handheld discussions. There's probably a lot of internal conversations going on for how to keep Windows as the number 1 gaming PC OS for decades to come, and how to combat losing market share in this space. That's a very good thing. I also think that with how much cheaper the SteamOS license cost is and how that leads to much lower prices, we'll continue to see these SteamOS handhelds hit markets with a console like experience and a console like price, and I hope that means we'll similarly see disruption in the console market with gamers questioning why the value of their consoles have stagnated so much (Nintendo and Sony don't even offer free cloud saves). That's also a very good thing. It looks like we're set to see much needed competition in places that there hasn't been in the gaming industry. That'll hopefully make all these companies wake up and compete to give us more value and just in general a better experience. The MOST improvements I've ever seen to the Xbox App on PC came post Steam Deck as the Xbox App on PC tried to really benefit from the Windows handhelds coming out and offer a more intuitive experience. That's what I expect to see more of.

 

[HeyCori]

I mean you said it yourself, Windows based handhelds have been around for years long before the current push: they aren't going away. This is the start of Valve really pushing SteamOS as an alternative gaming operating system, but SteamOS is still not windows.

Keep in mind that Valve doesn't need to replace Windows for gaming, they just need to replace Windows for - specifically - handhelds. That can happen regardless of the Windows PC market. I'd even argue that it's better for Valve if the PC market stays the way it is. It's the best of both worlds for them. After all, Valve makes the majority of their money selling games on Windows, which in turns boosts their handheld ecosystem. And given that Epic's store is a very distant second, it's almost impossible to avoid Steam if you're a PC gamer. I imagine a regular consumer is going to take that into consideration when looking for a PC handheld. Unless someone is deeply invested in Epic/GoG, Windows based handhelds can easily become a niche, and niches aren't guaranteed to last. You said it yourself, Microsoft has not done anything to stay competitive in this space. I don't want to say it's a guarantee, but there's a lane there where Steam handhelds completely overtake the PC handheld market. And given Microsoft's track record with previous devices, they might not care as long as Steam users are buying games on Windows PCs. And I seriously doubt the Windows PC gaming market is going to be in trouble any time soon.

 

[1078mac]

I mean you said it yourself, Windows based handhelds have been around for years long before the current push: they aren't going away. This is the start of Valve really pushing SteamOS as an alternative gaming operating system, but SteamOS is still not windows. As stated it only has access to a singular storefront/launcher and doesn't support every game (even those on Steam). While it is expected that Valve will inevitably grow the list of supported games, they will never make that every game just due to compatibility issues with legacy software and licensing and what not. SteamOS currently still has issues with DRM and anticheat games.

Not everything has to be the death of something else. That's one thing I really hate seeing on the internet. The overexaggerated XYZ-killer. Even now I'm seeing a LOT of news articles titled that the Steam Deck is dead because of this. It's like people want to live in a monopoly. I see this as a good wave of healthy competition. Much needed healthy competition. It's not like an alternative to windows for gaming is new. Heck, current windows handheld users have been able to download Bazzite (which offers a SteamOS like experience) for the longest. As a gaming OS, Windows has been sitting on its laurels for the past well ever. They were the default only option for the most part and knew that. Microsoft hasn't really done anything to actually stay competitive in the space (even when they literally created a gaming platform in Xbox). Now Apple is pushing more for PC gaming support on MacOS and through SteamOS Valve is heralding gaming on Linux. The majority of gamers are still going to be on windows for a long time and every PC game will likely continue to support windows in a way they just don't or can't on other operating systems. Not to mention that the vast majority of benefits that people equate to PC gaming will continue to only be available on Windows and when it comes to non-gaming uses Windows will continue to offer users a lot as well. Part of the allure of a Windows handheld is that it's just a Windows PC and that makes it usable for work and play.

I think it's very telling that Microsoft sent an Xbox exec to this event specifically to be part of the PC gaming handheld discussions. There's probably a lot of internal conversations going on for how to keep Windows as the number 1 gaming PC OS for decades to come, and how to combat losing market share in this space. That's a very good thing. I also think that with how much cheaper the SteamOS license cost is and how that leads to much lower prices, we'll continue to see these SteamOS handhelds hit markets with a console like experience and a console like price, and I hope that means we'll similarly see disruption in the console market with gamers questioning why the value of their consoles have stagnated so much (Nintendo and Sony don't even offer free cloud saves). That's also a very good thing. It looks like we're set to see much needed competition in places that there hasn't been in the gaming industry. That'll hopefully make all these companies wake up and compete to give us more value and just in general a better experience. The MOST improvements I've ever seen to the Xbox App on PC came post Steam Deck as the Xbox App on PC tried to really benefit from the Windows handhelds coming out and offer a more intuitive experience. That's what I expect to see more of.

Except the PC Xbox app is still not very good and quite frankly a disappointment on handhelds. So while I agree MS knows they need to do something they are not iterating with urgency and have no clear strategy to share. That app should be universal everywhere including Linux and it should be the same interface used on Xbox. At this point they need to deliver a truly good and cohesive experience with zero excuses and it should be here yesterday, but it isn't.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

Except the PC Xbox app is still not very good and quite frankly a disappointment on handhelds. So while I agree MS knows they need to do something they are not iterating with urgency and have no clear strategy to share. That app should be universal everywhere including Linux and it should be the same interface used on Xbox. At this point they need to deliver a truly good and cohesive experience with zero excuses and it should be here yesterday, but it isn't.

I agree on everything but I don't think a native Linux app is on the table and not sure why one would be. Unlike steam, Microsoft serves the interests of windows. In the past Phil Spencer has talked about bring Game Pass to other platforms and I think that's where it starts and stops and even then I think that's been rolled back to cloud gaming. I could certainly see a native Xbox Cloud Gaming app on Linux, but a native Xbox experience will probably if anything only come to windows devices because they can argue that as a method of keeping interest in Windows. Otherwise they'd be spending a LOT of resources to compete with storefronts that are far, far ahead on platforms they don't own or benefit from making more competitive.

The Xbox App on PC should've been leagues better decades ago, and maybe if it was Microsoft Gaming would move on to expanding their popular and competitive (hypothetically speaking) gaming launcher, store, and experience natively to MacOS and Linux. But we're not in that timeline. Instead we're in the one where the best we can hope for is promises for improvements because another company showed everyone how to do it right. That's not even me haming on my Microsoft. It's just the reality. They need to get their own house together first and it very much seems like that's all that's on their mind right now. We'll see where things go from there. I only really envision a native Xbox Launcher on Linux once they've hit market saturation on Windows and can't improve the app that much or get much more adoption on windows.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

Keep in mind that Valve doesn't need to replace Windows for gaming, they just need to replace Windows for - specifically - handhelds. That can happen regardless of the Windows PC market. I'd even argue that it's better for Valve if the PC market stays the way it is. It's the best of both worlds for them. After all, Valve makes the majority of their money selling games on Windows, which in turns boosts their handheld ecosystem. And given that Epic's store is a very distant second, it's almost impossible to avoid Steam if you're a PC gamer. I imagine a regular consumer is going to take that into consideration when looking for a PC handheld. Unless someone is deeply invested in Epic/GoG, Windows based handhelds can easily become a niche, and niches aren't guaranteed to last. You said it yourself, Microsoft has not done anything to stay competitive in this space. I don't want to say it's a guarantee, but there's a lane there where Steam handhelds completely overtake the PC handheld market. And given Microsoft's track record with previous devices, they might not care as long as Steam users are buying games on Windows PCs. And I seriously doubt the Windows PC gaming market is going to be in trouble any time soon.

Okay, so the same thing... both can coexist and compete with one another. Now if you're saying that a SteamOS license could become more popular For PC gaming handhelds specifically, probably tbh. At the end of the day it's cheaper and that's what matters most to manufactures. For purely gaming needs it gets enough of the job done. In either case, I don't see windows licenses never being used for handheld OEMs. They'll have their place for people want the full windows experience on a handheld. Now will production and sales go down... well, I mean they aren't high to begin with. To be honest it's less of a case of one becoming more popular than the other, and more one making the entire niche market mainstream and the other probably seeing success themselves regardless because of that. We started to see that with the Steam Deck and then so many big name brand companies building Windows Handhelds. And I wouldn't be surprised if this is how it continues with Valve being the most popular in the PC Handheld market and Microsoft just also benefiting from the market becoming any percent larger. Though that said it's still up in the air if it'll ever become truly mainstream. Decades later consoles still struggle in that regard (you ever sit down and think how the first iPhone came out after the first Xbox and now iPhone sales more in a year than Nintendo (the oldest console) can achieve in a lifetime even when said product breaks the milestone for best selling console ever?). That's not a dig on anything but just that how much the PC handheld market can grow is up in the air. Either way, I think there's room for success for multiple companies and ultimately both will benefit regardless of which OS has the greatest market share specifically on handhelds. The only thing I really disagree with is the idea that anything is an "XYZ killer". That buzz word gets thrown around too much and it's rather insulting to the nature of a healthy market and how we can benefit from them. Like it would not be to our benefit if either steamOS or Windows was the ONLY option for handhelds (we've already seen how much stagnation that leads to). Just like it would be godawful if any of those "Steam Deck killers" actually killed the competition and we were left with a monolith.