Latest Steam Deck News Point To Game-Changing Improvements Coming Soon

Steam Deck owners eager to better stream games to the handheld system from their main PC are in luck because Valve may be working on some new technology. When it comes to offering a robust user experience, it's difficult to beat the Steam Deck in terms of sheer accessibility. A fantastic piece of hardware that's made all the better by being deeply integrated with Steam's software and ecosystem, one of the few areas where it struggles is streaming data from an external source, a limitation of the hardware and general infrastructure.

Per a post on Reddit by user TareXmd, Valve recently submitted a patent for «Dual Detail Encoding in a Distributed System,» which will allow for improved low latency, high fidelity wireless foveated transmission, and rendering between a console and a head-mounted device or handheld system.

It's worth noting that a simple patent isn't an indication that Valve is actively developing something but it does suggest that the company is considering its options. Should the patented system come to fruition, it would make streaming to a Steam Deck from a PC significantly better.

Valve’s ultra-powerful handheld gaming PC, the Steam Deck, has a massive — even daunting — library of games. Here are some of its highlights.

Aside from the Steam Deck, the «Dual Detail Encoding in a Distributed System» patent could also be a major upgrade for the Valve Index, the company's virtual reality headset. The current iteration of the hardware sports a wire that must be connected to a suitable power source, but using a low latency, high fidelity wireless transmission could make for a powerful untethered device. Whether that's the case remains to be seen, but it would make sense that Valve patents technology that could be utilized across several of its homegrown products.

The patent has also fueled rumors that Valve is working on a «Steam console» that would compete alongside the likes of the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. Having hardware that synergizes