More details about Valve's SteamPal have appeared

In a report from Ars Technica, who are more familiar with what Valve’s been up to, they’ve revealed new details about the potential console.

As we reported yesterday, Valve appears to have been working on their own handheld console, with portable features such as “Bluetooth” and “airplane mode” being in the latest Steam Client Beta update, and now that the news has broken, Ars Technica has revealed a little more about what they know.

First off, while “SteamPal” has taken over as the name from project “Neptune”, it’s still believed that this might not be the final name for the device just yet as there’s no firm confirmation. 

Similar to other Switch style handheld PC’s, Valve’s SteamPal is set to have gamepad controls as well as a touch screen interface. According to Ars Technica’s report, the console should have a “standard array of gamepad buttons and triggers, along with a pair of joysticks and at least one thumb-sized touchpad,” so it might have some similarities to the Steam Controller’s touchpad design. 

Design elements, as with the entire console, are still in the prototype stage, so everything is subject to change and for now, there are no details about screen size, resolution or battery capacity. 

According to the report, the SteamPal is also said to have Switch-like docking capabilities, being able to connect to monitors through a USB Type C port. It’s unclear at the moment, however, if Valve would be creating their own dock similar to the Switch, or whether you’d simply plug it in and leave the console on the side. 

Ars Technica importantly notes at the end of their article, that while there are all these rumours, the SteamPal might not happen at all, as Valve has a history of incubating projects before abruptly cancelling them. 

From the sounds of things, the SteamPal is still very early in development, and while it might be nice, especially with all the hubbub about it at the moment, we probably won’t be seeing its announcement at the upcoming Steam Next Fest, or during E3.