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The new iteration of the long-awaited SteamOS3.0 operating system may be coming out sooner than anticipated if some of the latest Valve repo changes are anything to go by. Ahead of Steam Deck's release, Valve promised that the handheld PC's onboard operating system would eventually launch as a standalone image for users to install on their PCs, though this hasn't happened yet.
Designed to be a comprehensive and feature-rich gaming alternative to Windows, the Linux-based SteamOS 3.0 is supposed to deliver all of Steam Deck's most important features to gamers using the system on regular PCs. This includes reliable sleep functionality, instant refresh rate switching, and a variety of other crucial gaming-centric improvements, all the while providing users with an OS that can be used for regular daily tasks, too.
Less than a day after Valve updated Big Picture Mode with new UI, the team over at SteamDeckHQ noticed that Valve had updated its download repositories with a new (or updated) SteamOS media creation tool. This program can load up a user's USB drive with a SteamOS image that could subsequently be used to install the operating system anew on any regular PC. Though this is exciting news on its own, SteamDeckHQ does note that users may want to refrain from using this version of the imaging tool as it hasn't yet been officially released, meaning that this build may still be unstable in some way.
With over a million shipped Steam Deck devices, Valve has found plenty of success with its handheld gaming PC. If the company could deliver a stable and reliable build of SteamOS to people who might be itching to get rid of Windows, this success may end up being even more explosive in the long run. The fact that the imaging tool now exists and can even be downloaded may suggest that an announcement may be coming up in relatively short order, but it's still worth keeping a pinch of salt at hand.
It is, of course, also worth pointing out that using SteamOS does not block users from installing other storefronts onto their devices. Steam Deck fully supports the Epic Games Launcher, for example, though getting it up and running is a bit more complicated and involved than it is on Windows. Regardless, Valve's dedication to openness is bound to extend to its operating system, too.
Though Valve's most recent endeavors don't directly relate to video game production itself, fans of Portal, Counter-Strike, and Half-Life do have something to look forward to. Namely, Valve recently registered a mysterious new trademark by the name of "Neon Prime," and though it's still unclear what this is, exactly, it's all but certain that it's a new game of some sort.
SteamOS 3.0 is due to launch sometime in the future.
Source: SteamDeckHQ
