According to recent reports, Valve is said to be working on a mobile gaming PC under the code name SteamPal with which the company could establish a direct competitor to the Nintendo Switch. An official confirmation is still pending.
As it is said, the system should be able to play a large selection of games on Steam via Linux and, in the best case, be released this year. According to the sources from Ars Technica, SteamPal is an all-in-one PC with classic gamepad support and a touchscreen, with which Valve could compete directly with Nintendo Switch.
According to the same website, the hardware of the mobile gaming PC is currently still in the prototype phase, and in the final version will have a USB Type-C connection with which it will be possible to connect the system to a monitor. However, we shouldn’t expect removable controllers such as those offered by Nintendo Switch.
It is also reported that the prototype of SteamPal will have the classic buttons of a gaming controller, a couple of joysticks, and a touchpad the size of a thumb. According to the unconfirmed rumors, there is also a system-on-a-chip from Intel or AMD.
At the beginning of the month, Valve’s CEO Gabe Newell may have already hinted at work on the new system. During a visit to Sancta Maria College, he asked himself whether Steam could sooner or later find its way onto the consoles.
Gabe Newell replied: “You will get a better idea of that by the end of this year… and it won’t be the answer you expect.” A possible clue to work on a mobile gaming PC?
Let’s wait and see what happens over the next few months.
