Valve Working On SteamOS For ROG Ally and Other Handhelds

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SteamOS is my favorite handheld operating system for many reasons. Valve has crushed it when it comes to supporting and creating a streamlined OS that prioritizes the games first and tries to get rid of anything that could hamper or bloat. We also have awesome built-in tools like FSR, TDP limits, and more that we can change on the fly. Recently, there has been speculation about whether we could see the OS come to other devices due to the recent SteamOS beta, which included a line about ROG Ally support, and it looks like this is more than just a random inclusion.

According to a report from The Verge, Lawrence Yang, a Valve designer working on the Steam Deck, confirmed that this note was intentional and they are working on third-party support:

The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS. The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS.

Lawrence Yang

This isn't going to be happening soon, as Yang has mentioned they are "making steady progress," and it "isn't ready to run out of the box yet." But this does mean they are working on supporting specific handhelds like the ROG Ally, and we could see support for others like the Legion Go, MSI Claw, AYANEO, and others.

Later on in the article, Yang also confirms that Windows support is still coming to the Steam Deck OLED and dual booting is on the way. This was a suspicion I had when I saw the OLED support for the Windows Bluetooth driver on the newest SteamOS beta release, and I discussed it in our most recent podcast episode, but it's great to see it there. Dual booting is still a priority for the team as well, but they haven't had the time to get around to it just yet.

Regardless, this is an extremely exciting development, and I am elated to see the support coming in. I would love to see how SteamOS is on other handhelds and if it can really shine on new devices like the ROG Ally X. Time will tell, but I am happy for the confirmation!

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