The {hardware} in Valve’s 2021 Steam Deck can run circles round Nintendo’s 2017 Nintendo Swap, however there’s been one level of comparability the place Nintendo’s had the higher hand for the final yr: the display. The Swap OLED mannequin debuted simply six months earlier than the Steam Deck, and when you go OLED on a TV, telephone, or gaming handheld, it is fairly laborious to go away these wealthy colours and deep blacks behind. The Steam Deck has simply handed its one yr anniversary, and for the entire yr I’ve seen one query in regards to the Deck pop up greater than another: is Valve going to make an OLED mannequin?
The brief, well mannered reply, from Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais (opens in new tab), is that Valve “understands the restrictions of the present tech that is within the Deck, when it comes to the display.”
“We additionally need it to be higher. We’re all avenues,” he says. However the longer reply is that there is much more to swapping out a display than simply… swapping out a display.
“I feel individuals are issues like an incremental model and assume that it is a straightforward drop-in,” Griffais says. “However in actuality, the display’s on the core of the machine. All the pieces is anchored to it. Principally the whole lot is architected round the whole lot if you’re speaking a couple of machine that small. I feel it could be an even bigger quantity of labor than individuals are assuming it could be. […] I do not assume we’re discounting something. However the concept you could possibly simply swap in a brand new display and be carried out—it could want greater than that to be doable.”
When Valve was designing the Steam Deck, the pliability of the LCD panel was really considered one of its prime priorities—particularly making the backlight be capable to go as dim as potential for taking part in comfortably in low gentle, and the power to change the refresh fee to protect battery life. Griffais says that so far as he is aware of that must be potential on an OLED, too, but it surely requires some particular configuration.
“It is simply one thing you must plan forward. Once we have been engaged on this display, we made certain these could possibly be supported, even when the refresh fee switching wasn’t prepared at launch. It was actually essential to us that every one that might be supported. So it is one thing that you just want to bear in mind if you’re evaluating and deciding on potential choices. However there’s nothing about LCD vs OLED, completely different display applied sciences that makes {that a} dealbreaker. It is about the way you’re designing the entire system, and what’s in between the display and the SOC (system-on-a-chip).”
I feel it is possible the Steam Deck’s eventual successor makes use of an OLED, however after speaking to Griffais, I am not anticipating an incremental replace from Valve just like the Steam OLED. If there are plans for one, Valve’s actually taking part in it near the vest.
Within the meantime, Steam Deck house owners who miss OLED colours can a minimum of strive VibrantDeck, a pleasant little plugin that allows you to bump up the show saturation with out turning your video games into full-on Lisa Frank work. Or you may go completely wild with it. I am not the colour police .
