The Steam Deck is almost four years old, but Valve still actively supports it and doesn’t seem to be slowing down. They’re even responding to customer feedback more than ever, and are about to add a highly requested feature to the handheld gaming device.
A strange limitation of the Steam Deck was that you had to keep the screen on while downloading games. This meant you couldn’t put it to sleep to save battery, which was frustrating for large downloads, especially on the newer Steam Deck OLED model which is susceptible to screen burn-in. Thankfully, Valve has now fixed this with a recent update, adding a new power-saving mode that lets you download games even when the screen is off.
Before being released to all Steam Deck owners, a new feature is being tested. When you connect your Steam Deck to a power source, this mode activates automatically. If a game is downloading, the screen will turn off to save power, but will briefly show download progress if you move the device or press any button. It continues downloading in the background while the screen is off.
You can also turn on this power-saving mode in the settings when playing on battery life, and Valve hopes it will significantly extend playtime. To further conserve power, the Steam Deck will automatically sleep and stop any downloads when the battery reaches 20%.
As a Steam Deck fan, I’ve been eagerly waiting for news about a follow-up, but Valve is keeping pretty quiet! It’s looking like we might not see a new version until 2027, which feels like a long wait. Luckily, there’s some competition now – ASUS and Microsoft just released the ROG Ally, and it’s seriously powerful thanks to the new AMD Ryzen Z2 Extreme chip. It’s a bit better performing than most other handheld gaming PCs, although it does have a few downsides. If you’re curious, I’ve got a full review of the ROG Ally available here.
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2025-11-05 19:10