Happy four years to the Steam Deck - still the top PC gaming handheld

Four years ago today, the original Steam Deck LCD released, with it going on to change how everyone sees handheld gaming PCs and Linux for gaming.

Valve have continued to show that Linux can be a great gaming platform thanks to all the work that goes into SteamOS, Proton, Mesa graphics drivers and everything related to show the power of open source. Thanks to all the work we saw that Steam Deck Verified crossed over 25,000 titles playable just recently too.

While last year was a nice celebration, this year is a bit different due to the ongoing hardware stock and pricing situation thanks to all the AI companies sucking the air out of the room. The Steam Deck has been constantly out of stock in various regions for weeks now! Hopefully the situation will calm down so Valve can get more stock out. On top of that, Valve have also now discontinued the LCD Steam Deck to focus on the OLED Steam Deck which is a shame since it was a great value entry into handheld PCs with Linux.

Since last year, SteamOS has seen some great improvements that continue to show how the Steam Deck has constantly evolved. Some of the articles of note:

• You can now add hardware details to Steam reviews, and give more feedback on Steam Deck Verified
• SteamOS 3.7.20 adds the ntsync driver to help improve some game performance
• Steam Deck gets display-off low power downloads in a new stable update

We also have the Lenovo Legion Go 2 confirmed to be arriving with SteamOS sometime as well.

Proton, the compatibility layer to run Windows games on Linux, has also continued to evolve during this time. Valve are constantly rolling out updates via Proton Experimental for early adapters to test and since last year we've seen the release of Proton 10.0-3 and Proton 10.0-4. With each new Proton release bringing many more playable games and lots of bug fixes for other games. And, with the NTSync driver support to come noted above, we should see some more performance and accuracy improvements to come this year.

On top of that another highlight since last time was seeing Linux on Steam finally hit over that 3% mark, a lot of it thanks to all the work Valve puts in to improve things everywhere.

There's still a huge amount to look forward to, not just for the Steam Deck but for Linux and Valve's hardware ambitions. Still to look forward to this year for Linux and SteamOS include:

• Steam Frame: Valve's new standalone wireless VR headset - powered by SteamOS.
• Steam Machine: Bringing SteamOS back to the living room.
• Steam Controller 2: With Steam Deck styled controls including the touch pads.

After four years, Valve's first handheld has clearly proven there's a market for people who want their PC library on the go, helping to break out handheld gaming PCs from smaller vendors that serve up expensive handhelds constantly. Often with constant yearly refreshing and the clunky Windows interface. While these smaller vendors showed what was possible, it was Valve that truly made it more mainstream.

Now we just need this ridiculous AI hype bubble to burst, and things can all go back to normal to get more Steam Deck OLED stock into your hands, and for Valve's new hardware to get released and we'll be firmly on the way to that elusive "Year of the Linux Desktop". Or are we already there? It certainly feels like it.