Highlights
- Valve's mysterious new device is likely a follow-up to the Valve Index VR headset rather than the Steam Deck handheld console.
- The device's wireless capabilities and 5GHz band support suggest it is not a controller accessory, but rather a standalone VR headset.
- The possibility of a new Index headset could also mean that Valve is working on another AAA VR game, following the success of Half-Life: Alyx.
A mysterious new device from Valve that recently leaked online is likely not the Steam Deck 2, but another virtual reality headset, according to some newly emerged evidence. This development dovetails with the recent hints that Valve is working on new VR headgear.
While its official sales figures are unknown, the estimates that the Steam Deck shipped over a million units within six months of releasing indicate the handheld is Valve's most successful piece of hardware to date by a large margin. And though the gaming giant itself said that its successor won't be hitting the market anytime soon, that did not stop the fandom from some wild speculation once the South Korean Radio Research Agency (RRA) certified an unannounced Valve device—identified by model number 1030—in late August.
But the mysterious gadget is most likely a follow-up on the Valve Index rather than Steam Deck, with Reddit user Gex_TengokuNET pointing out how the recently unveiled Meta Quest 3 VR headset received the exact same certification in the run-up to its June announcement. Both devices were rated with wireless capabilities in the 5150-5350MHz and 5470-5850MHz Wi-Fi frequency bands, making it possible that they fall into the same product category, the user explained.
And while the fact that the Steam Deck released just last year already makes it unlikely that the unannounced Valve device is another handheld console, the gadget's 5GHz band support also minimizes the chances of it being a controller accessory of some sort. Elaborating on that point, Gex_TengokuNET highlighted how such high-bandwidth frequencies are unnecessary for reliably relaying fairly minuscule data packets that a typical gamepad would warrant.
This limited spec leak hence implies that Valve is gearing up to introduce its second-ever VR headset after the 2019 Index. The company's virtual reality foray actually predates that gadget, having originally started with an HTC collaboration that resulted in the Vive lineup of VR headgear, first released in 2016.
The possibility of the Index 2 might also inspire hope among virtual reality aficionados that another AAA VR game is on the horizon, not least because Valve promptly followed up on the original Index with Half-Life: Alyx. More than three years into its release, the critically acclaimed first-person shooter is still widely touted as the best VR game on the market. And though it remains to be seen whether another such seminal work could be on the horizon, this newly surfaced RRA certification does imply that Valve's history of hardware attempts is slated to receive one more chapter in the foreseeable future.
