Valve refers to it as a ‘booklet.’
Valve released a digital “booklet” about the Steam Deck, Steam, and the company itself on Thursday. Valve claims that the book was released ahead of the Steam Deck’s launch in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, but it also arrives on the six-month anniversary of when Valve sent the first order emails allowing people to purchase their Steam Deck.
The 52-page ebook is free, and I recommend reading it if you’re interested in Valve or the Steam Deck. Not only are there a few pages full of Steam Deck prototypes, but you can also read about Valve’s plans for the Steam Deck in its own words.
Hello! We wrote a small book about Steam Deck, Steam, and Valve. We’re pretty happy with how it turned out, and we’re now making it available digitally.
Learn more and download the booklet here: https://t.co/KG4YdGS2Lx pic.twitter.com/fbeXevzY5r— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) August 25, 2022
The most noteworthy aspect is Valve’s commitment to the Steam Deck and SteamOS as a “multi-generational product line.” Valve has previously referred to the Steam Deck as a “multi-generational category,” but the company goes even further in the book (and because it’s printed in a book, it’s definitely that much more official):
This is, after all, a multi-generational product line. Valve will continue to support Steam Deck and SteamOS for the foreseeable future. We will learn from the Steam community about new uses for our hardware that we have not yet considered, and we will build new versions that are even more open and capable than the first version of Steam Deck.
After reading that, I’m already looking forward to the Steam Deck 3, though hopefully the third instalment of a certain video game series will arrive first.
Valve also revealed some interesting Steam statistics, such as the fact that the platform has over 130 million monthly active users and over 30,000 titles. And, as of the book’s publication, Valve claims that over 4,500 titles have the “Verified” or “Playable” designation for Steam Deck, implying that roughly 15% of all games on Steam are already deemed “Playable.”
Valve has been increasing its shipping volume since the first order emails were sent out in February, and the company even announced on Wednesday that some Q4 reservations would be moved to Q3. If you make a reservation today, you won’t be able to order your device until sometime in Q4. But, at the rate things have been improving, it shouldn’t be long before your order email arrives — and while you wait, Valve has a book you can read.
