Wait a minute, that’s not a Steam Deck!
With the SteamOS-powered Legion Go S finally confirmed and set to officially launch in May for $499, you might be wondering if Valve is ready to release SteamOS more broadly. In other words, on other devices like the Asus ROG Ally, ONEXPLAYER F1 Pro, or even the upcoming Acer Nitro Blaze 11. It’s something the Steam platform holder has promised since the Steam Deck launched in 2022. Well, your undying patience is about to pay off.
Today, Valve shared some welcome news about running SteamOS on devices beyond the Steam Deck or the officially licensed Legion Go S model.
“Ahead of Legion Go S shipping, we will be shipping a beta of SteamOS which should improve the experience on other devices, and users can download and test this themselves,” Valve says.
Valve is historically concise when it comes to its external communication, and the short post lacked any details about a timeline for the SteamOS beta, or which devices it may explicitly support. (I have an email into Valve PR and if they respond, I’ll update this post ASAP.)
But we can make some educated guesses.
As for when Valve will release the SteamOS beta to the public, the easy answer is “at some point before May 2025,” since that’s when Lenovo is launching its Legion Go S Powered by SteamOS (yep, that’s the official name). However, the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S launching this month has identical hardware. The gap in releases is likely because Valve and Lenovo are still polishing SteamOS for use on this particular device, and still refining the SteamOS installer.
It’s highly likely Valve can crowd source a lot of free beta testing from users who buy the Windows 11 version of the Legion Go S. Personally, I think we’ll see the SteamOS beta available by the end of February.
[UPDATE: Valve designer Pierre-Loup Griffais tells The Verge the timing should be “after March sometime.”]
But what of these other devices? By now it’s no secret that Bazzite has been the Linux darling on handhelds like the Legion Go and ROG Ally. The reason it’s garnered so much acclaim is how closely it matches the “native” Steam Deck experience, including supporting many of the unique hardware-level features like TDP control, RGB lighting, and more.
So, I feel confident saying the SteamOS beta will support both of those handhelds (note that Valve outright told us it would support the ROG Ally), or any others that include the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme chipset.
In fact, devices like the ONEXPLAYER Mini Pro should be supported too. Essentially anything with an AMD chipset, which casts a pretty wide net in the handheld space. However, that doesn’t mean that SteamOS will run flawlessly on all those products.
We probably will not see a SteamOS beta supporting the MSI Claw 8 AI+, which uses Intel’s Lunar Lake. And even though Valve has been chipping away at Nvidia support, I think it’s too early to hope that SteamOS can be installed on your beefy RTX-powered desktop.
Right now, we’re firmly in handheld territory, but it’s a very exciting place to be! We’re on the verge of some truly awesome developments in the handheld and Linux gaming space. I’ll let you know more if and when Valve replies to my questions.