Steam Deck = Full Frontal Assault on Nintendo Switch

Some Q&A

How Much VRAM does Steam Deck have?

   Steam Deck has 16 gigabyte of unified memory. One gigabyte that's dedicated for the GPU, but depending on workload the GPU can access up to 8 GB.

Does Deck only support full screen mode?

   The Steam Deck will automatically run games in full-screen by default.  However, if you drop to desktop, you can run games in windowed mode.

Do you plan to release SteamOS as a standalone, general-purpose operating system?

   We definitely plan on releasing SteamOS as a separate operating system. We don't have exact timing on that. We're really focused on making sure that Steam Deck is a great experience, and we'll release it for other hardware soon.

Does Deck support installing software from outside of Steam and can you use it with Proton?

   Yes. You can install and add any game like you would on the Steam desktop. Just install the application and then add it to Steam from desktop mode and it'll show up just like it would on any PC.

Is Steam working closely with leading game engine developers, like Epic Games and Unity on Steam Deck?

   Yes, we're working with both Unity and Epic on making sure Unreal and Unity engines have integrations that make the development experience for Deck as smooth as possible. And going forward we expect there will be improvements rolling into those engines over time to further integrate with our development tools and to make those engines a great target for Steam Deck. Already there's a pretty good experience for Unity and Unreal developers from the start.

You mentioned that you're talking with Unity and Epic, are you also talking to Godot?

   Yes, we're talking to Godot as well and are actively supporting them and want their engine to work well with Steam Deck.

How many sound channels does Steam Deck support?

   We support two when using the onboard speakers, but we support multi-channel when using HDMI or Bluetooth.

Will there be a way to install external apps on Deck without going into dev mode?

   Yes. You'll be able to install external apps via Flatpak or other software without going into developer mode.

Month of the Steam Deck. It's already in the hands of reviewers. 25th is software NDA date, we'll get hardware reviews before. Wish I had ordered one at the beginning, now the wait is probably so long, that it's going to be Steam Deck 2 for me.

Hardware review: