Valve has announced that it is working to extend SteamOS compatibility to portable gaming systems from other manufacturers, including ASUS ROG Ally devices. This development was revealed in a community post detailing changes in the latest SteamOS beta version, which now supports additional ROG Ally keys.
Valve also confirmed its plans to allow third-party companies to run SteamOS on their devices. Lawrence Yang, a Valve designer, mentioned, “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,” as quoted by The Verge.
The Steam Deck, Valve’s own handheld gaming console, operates on SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system. In contrast, other popular handheld consoles like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation Portal use proprietary operating systems, while most handheld gaming devices rely on Microsoft Windows. This category includes devices such as the ASUS ROG Ally, MSI Claw, ROG Ally X, and Lenovo Legion Go.
Valve’s move to enable SteamOS on third-party handhelds could pose a challenge to Microsoft, which has yet to optimize the Windows platform for the growing handheld gaming console market. The delay from Microsoft has prompted OEMs like ASUS and Lenovo to develop custom interfaces layered on top of Windows to enhance the user experience on mobile devices. SteamOS, designed specifically for mobile gaming, offers a streamlined experience tailored to portable gaming hardware.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Microsoft may be developing an Xbox portable gaming system. However, it remains uncertain whether this device would run on Windows. Microsoft might opt to follow Sony’s approach by making the Xbox portable a remote-play device compatible with conventional game consoles, or it may develop a user interface similar to SteamOS.
