Steam Deck
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has been equipped with a Steam Deck by Valve, which he has been able to try out for the past few days. Above all, Spencer has a look at services such as xCloud, which of course will also be compatible with the handheld. According to the Xbox boss, the streaming offer should work very well on Valve's device. In his tweet he specifically mentioned Halo and Age of Empires, which he tested with the Steam Deck.Recommended editorial content Here you can find external content from [PLATFORM]. To protect your personal data, external integrations are only displayed if you confirm this by clicking on "Load all external content": Load all external content I consent to external content being displayed to me. This means that personal data is transmitted to third-party platforms. Read more about our privacy policy . External content More on this in our data protection declaration. This means that Xbox Game Pass subscribers can play a large part of the range on their handheld via xCloud. In general, Phil Spencer described the Steam Deck as great hardware. The service, unnamed in Xbox Cloud Gaming, has been available for Android, iOS and, more recently, Windows 10 since September 2020. For Microsoft, the hype surrounding the Steam Deck comes in very handy. Phil Spencer repeatedly emphasized that he wanted to expand the range of the Xbox Game Pass - and thus also xCloud. Sony and Nintendo do not support this project. Valve will easily allow the service on its mobile PC. At the moment there are even rumors of a streaming-only console for Xbox Cloud Gaming.
If you were able to secure a copy in time for the start of pre-orders, you will have your Steam Deck in your hands as early as December 2021. The handheld is not currently available for purchase. According to Valve, orders will probably only be possible again after the second quarter of 2022. Last week some content creators shared their first hands-on videos about the Steam Deck on YouTube.
Source: Twitter
Steam Deck may be getting Xbox Cloud Gaming support — this could be huge
It looks like Valve’s Steam Deck will be getting Xbox Cloud Gaming support. Microsoft’s Phil Spencer confirmed that he has been testing out how the streaming service functions on the machine after getting hands-on with the portable gaming device last week.
If you're out of the loop, the Steam Deck is a handheld gaming device from Valve currently scheduled to launch in December. It will give owners access to their entire library of Steam games while on the move, and the machine has recently been put through its paces by some journalists and persons of influence.
Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President of Gaming, was among the select few to get hands on and tweeted out that it’s a “real nice device.” While it’s good to know that the device itself is enjoyable to use, the most interesting part of Spencer’s post was confirmation that “xCloud works well.” Spencer also confirmed that he’d used the Steam Deck to play both Halo and Age of Empires. Presumably, he played these through the Xbox Cloud Gaming service.
Xbox Cloud Gaming (formerly known as xCloud) is a video game streaming service from Microsoft. It allows users to stream high-quality games directly to a range of compatible devices including mobile phones. It would appear that Steam Deck will be added to that list, although whether the service will be available via a native app at launch is currently unknown.
It’s already been confirmed that Steam Deck won’t limit users to solely playing games through Steam. It will be possible to play games using VR headsets via the Oculus Quest 2 or other headsets, shop on alternative gaming marketplace like the Epic Games Store and install entirely different operating systems such as the upcoming Windows 11. Xbox Cloud Gaming support would add even more versatility to the mix.
Furthermore, the ability to stream games could be significant for the Steam Deck as there has been some concern about performance on the device. While Valve is targeting a minimum benchmark of 30 fps for any games played on Steam Deck, as several Nintendo Switch ports have shown downscaling a game for a portable device can require coding wizardry.
While there will likely be plenty of graphically impressive games that'll run remarkably well on the Steam Deck, others could struggle on the portable’s weaker hardware. That’s where Xbox Cloud Gaming could really come in handy. The service is able to run big-budget Xbox Game Pass titles even on mobile devices as the game is only being streamed to the device rather than natively played from it.
Hopefully, official confirmation of Xbox Cloud Gaming being available on Steam Deck will follow Spencer’s tweet as the technology could help make the machine an essential gaming purchase. Though, anyone hoping to get hold of a Steam Deck soon may face disappointment as the device is already sold out of its first wave of pre-orders.