Everything we know about the Valve ‘Fremont’ Steam Console

We still don’t know what kind of gaming hardware Valve’s chefs are cooking up, but its makers; Steam Deck: It seems that not only handheld devices serve, eagle-eyed Reddit users have spotted what could be a device that can revive old ideas. Steam Box:, Steam engineand: Steam Link:but in a way that can compete with streaming TV sets or perhaps TV-side panels.

Valve has a notoriously free-form work environment, meaning that projects are picked up and stopped based on the whims of its relatively small staff. In itself Half life 2 20th anniversary self-documentary Released last month, the company actually announced that its developers had left Half-Life 2: Episode 3 on the living room table because few people were interested in making it. That means any upcoming hardware, especially long-rumored devices, could just be afterthoughts from the volatile company, or, thanks to Steam Deck’s popularity, could be the first glimpses of an incoming Valve hardware revival.

Valve’s Fremont can be a TV stream or console

Beyond speculation and data mining, there is no official information and little concrete information. As one Reddit user recommended in the r/SteamDeck subreddit by the codename “Fremont”. HDMI CEC: and has hardware “similar to Google ChromeOS devices”. ChromeOS and SteamOS are Linux-based operating systems, but the code points to the potential of a streaming device that needs to be connected to an external source, such as a monitor or TV.

All information comes from recent SteamOS kernel changes The poster has added some speculation that the device is a streaming device, a console, or set-top box. Google already has its own streaming devices such as Chromecast and: Google TV Streamr, but ChromeOS controller The profile linked by the Redditor is part of Google Open Source ChromeOS EC code.

So it could be a streaming device that you plug into your TV, like the Nvidia Shield, which supports both game and movie streaming.Furthermore, the SteamOS code referenced AMD Lilac, which the Redditor speculated , that the device could run on an AMD 8540U chip, however, Valve and VR info are looking for Brad Lynch pointed out AMD Lilac can simply refer to a chipmaker’s developer platform, and can refer to an entire line of chips over several generations.

We don’t know how powerful it could be, but overall it could be as powerful as, if not more than, the Steam Deck if Valve uses the same “Deck Verified” benchmarks for a TV-based device , it can be a relatively inexpensive game console used to play your existing Steam games.

Valve could try to compete alongside or against the Meta with a Steam wireless headset

Valve has been rumored for years to follow up the Index headset with a wireless headset last year has updated its SteamVR platform to make control much easier, but there has been no hint of any new VR hardware from the Bellevue, Washington company it will require a dedicated SteamVR box to run without a PC.

Lynch has released some unconfirmed renders of Deckard’s controllers, codenamed “Roy.” They’re apparently still in development, and various versions feature hand rings or flat-faced controllers, plus they may have more more buttons than a standard VR controller with an additional d-pad.

Progression of Valve Deckard’s Roy controllers from prototype to mass production instrumentation (at least EV1) pic.twitter.com/66VLcu5GuG

— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) November 26, 2024

But with Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S around, will anyone really pay more for a device that can’t play games natively anywhere?Meta worked with Valve to make its Steam The Link app will launch for all Quest users, so perhaps Valve is going in the same direction translation layer specifically for putting VR games on ARM-based platforms like the Quest.

If Valve has the hardware (and that’s a big “if”), the software is left. Valve’s Proton compatibility layer is already porting games from Windows to Linux with its Proton compatibility layer, though extends proton to ARM64not only could it be a great time for Snapdragon X Elite and Plus-based Copilot+ PCs, but it could also be good news for VR.

The new Steam controller from Valve doesn’t mean Steam Deck 2

There are hints that we may finally see the Steam Controller 2. The last Steam Controller was lightweight, but gamers couldn’t get used to the huge trackpads instead of the regular thumbs ignored them.

But Valve’s “Ibex” concept could be a whole new ballgame for the Steam Controller, which could work well with a new VR headset or device, Lynch claimed, citing unnamed sources, that Ibex is already in the works If it’s separate from the Roy controllers, it will still be one of the most unique controller designs since the Wii-mote. Steam isn’t done putting trackpads on the controllers all those mouse-controlled games might end up working just as well on a handheld.

A thumbnail of the Ibex render model has been leaked in the SteamVR drivers pic.twitter.com/amw3SFExF5

— Brad Lynch (@SadlyItsBradley) November 26, 2024

The Steam Deck design language is ingrained at this point.Almost every OEM works its own PC, so you don’t have to wait for Steam Deck 2. Valve told Gizmodo that it won’t be releasing a new, updated handheld for anyone else. two or three years. The company has issued same hardware with new color swatchesbut reiterated his position that it wanted a “generational leap” before producing another handheld device.