Valve’s rumored portable PC gaming device codenamed ‘SteamPal’ could launch in late 2021
Valve’s Steam Controller | Photo credit: Valve / YouTube screenshot Wednesday, May 26, 2021 9:00 AM UTC
Valve is reportedly taking another major shot at selling a hardware product. The hardware under development will still focus on PC games, except it is designed to be used on the go like Nintendo Switch.
SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik shared his observations on the Steam client beta on Tuesday. The developer noticed that an update once again contained references to a device named “Neptune,” which was first spotted last September. This time, however, “NeptuneName” has been attached to another unknown item called “SteamPal” and “SteamPal Games.”
References found in the latest Steam client beta indicate Valve is working on something called "Neptune," also known as "SteamPal." We don't know exactly what this is yet, but it appears to be a new kind of hardware possibly a handheld console.
Image via Valve
SteamDB founder Pavel Djundik has uncovered some interesting details in the latest Steam client beta update. Djundik claims that he managed to find references to a Valve project thought to be codenamed “Neptune” and several strings that could indicate progress towards Steam’s compatibility with consoles or a console built to use Steam to run games.
The latest Steam client update includes the strings of text, “SteamPal and SteamPal Games.” It’s thought that these could be how games are named when using a specific version of the marketplace on consoles or “Neptune.” Adding to this, other string references for “quick access, power, restart, and shut down” were also found. Apparently, the Steam client beta also has back-end functionality for airplane mode and Bluetooth. All of these are listed in SteamDB’s tracking GitHub. There, you can also find a reference to the “Callisto Developer Program,” which could be a codename for the developers invo
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There’s a chance that Steam, Valve’s popular digital storefront on PC, might be porting its exclusives to video game consoles later in 2021. This was hinted, albeit vaguely, by none other than the company’s president Gabe Newell a few days back during a talk at Sancta Maria College in Auckland, New Zealand.
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“You will have a better idea of that by the end of this year,” Newell replied when asked by a student if Steam would be porting games to consoles. Seeing that the PlayStation 4 being the only console to feature virtual reality capabilities via its PSVR peripheral, it could be possible for Valve to port Half-Life: Alyx over to it. That, or to the PS5 since Sony had recently teased the next iteration of its virtual reality system for the new console.