It seems there’s a bit of confusion in the handheld gaming console segment of late. There have been plenty of rumours about the Nintendo Switch 2, some even suggesting that the Joy-Cons may double up as a mouse. While we don’t know much about Nintendo’s next device, the first day of CES 2025 revealed Ryzen’s new Z2 line of processors, which in turn kicked up rumours about a newSteam Deck.
As noted byGamesRadar+, the miscommunication began whenVideoCardz.comput up a slide that mentioned that Ryzen’s Z2 processors are capable of creating a boom in the handheld console market, even naming the likes of the ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, and the Steam Deck. This was compounded by AMD saying that the next iterations of these devices would indeed be powered by Z2 processors.
There Are No Plans For A Steam Deck 2 Yet
In order to clarify this miscommunication, Valve coder Pierre-Loup Griffaisrevealed on Blueskythat there are currently no plans to create a Z2 processor powered Steam Deck 2. “There is and will be no Z2 Steam Deck,” he said. “Guessing the slide was meant to say the series is meant for products like that, not announcing anything specific.”
It seems that while this was simply a case of misunderstanding what was written on the slide,The Vergenoted that AMD specifically told certain journalists at CES that there would be a Z2 powered Steam Deck. However, when asked to elaborate, they said the slide in question was “designed to highlight our current handheld design wins.”
This seems to be a case of he-said-she-said, with all parties trying to protect themselves from accidentally leaking any information on future console plans. It seems we’ll only know if there is a Steam Deck 2 in due time, asValve is probably busy with another highly anticipated project.
In other news related to CES 2025 and the rapidly growing handheld gaming category,Acer announced the Nitro Blaze 11, which seems to be a cross between a Steam Deck and a Nintendo Switch.
Steam Deck
The Steam Deck is Valve’s entry into the handheld PC market, using a custom Linux-based OS to bring your Steam library wherever you go. Launched in 2022 with an LCD screen, an updated model with an OLED screen followed in late 2023.
