VR enthusiast and Valve watcher Brad Lynch has popped a few balloons as rumors swirl around the company, saying that 2025 will be a “wild year” for Valve hardware. Social media has spread the rumor that the long-awaited Half-Life 3 is expected to appear at The Game Awards, but it also looks as though we’ll soon be getting a new Steam Controller and Valve VR headset.
Valve’s virtual reality headset, the Index, is still one of the best VR headsets to get, but it’s aging rapidly. Between leaks of its controllers and more updates on Steam’s backend, it appears that Valve is gearing up for its not-so-secret follow-up, Deckard.
The Valve rumor mill has been in high gear, as more backend updates are spotted by Lynch and others in the community. Most recently, he uncovered new assets to describe “Floor Height” and “Playspace”. There’s also a line of code that simply says “Device Compatibility”, indicating an unannounced piece of hardware is on the way.
While the focus is on a potential Half-Life 3 announcement at Geoff Keighley’s The Game Awards, Lynch points everyone towards 2025 instead. Deckard is expected to be an all-in-one VR headset similar to the Meta Quest 3. It recently had its controllers, apparently dubbed “Roy” leaked, showing an updated design that’s closer to the controllers of current headsets.
A new Steam Controller design was also found in updated files. Valve discontinued the original in 2019, and sold it off in a fire sale. The new design appears to pull from the Steam Deck, with recreations making it look like the handheld without a screen.
On top of all of this, Valve is potentially working on a non-handheld system, codenamed “Fremont”. Recent changes to backend code found references to pointing HDMI CEC, which allows both the device and supported display to turn each other on, off, or control other aspects of each other.
More hardware powered by Valve’s SteamOS looks like it’s on the way soon too. New documents detailing how Valve intends to label third-party devices using its custom version of Linux were picked up last week.
As with any rumor from Valve, it’s best not to set your expectations too high. The company is known for its tendency to cancel or delay products indefinitely – Half-Life fans know the pain.
However, Valve currently does make the best gaming handheld in the form of the Steam Deck, and it’d make sense for Valve to turn its attention to making even more hardware.
