Just a few days ago, the hotly-anticipatedSteam Deckwas finally released after some initial delays brought on by the ongoing component shortage. WhileValve has a history of unsuccessful hardware projects, this time around it seems as though it’s knocked it out of the park, or at least laid the groundwork for the future of mobile gaming, especially when it comes to portable PC devices. Of course, what everyone knows about the system in terms of its look is not how it started out, and is the final result of a multitude of changes.
In a recent report from PC Gamer, some images showing early prototypes of theSteam Deckhave emerged, which depict a series of early drafts of the device in many forms. While some of the pictures show some of the iterations and ideas that the company went through before settling on the end product, others simply show a more stripped down version of the Linux-based system, with exposed circuit boards, and even some images portraying what look like Switch-esque joycon controllers.
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This is not too surprising, given that, when it was first revealed last summer, theSteam Deck appeared to be a Switch competitor, so the sight of small controllers that look similar to Nintendo’s own makes it seem like Valve did indeed start out with this idea in-mind. However, as time has moved on, and people are now starting to play the device for themselves, it’s become apparent that it’s something much more than a handheld gaming console, and is more of a transportable PC, if anything. Just one that is best suited for Steam games.
Of course, some of the early prototypes are not pretty by any standard, which is understandable. That’s why they’re prototypes. In fact, last August, some of the developers fromValve originally nicknamed the Steam Deck ‘ugly baby’based on early designs, and it’s not hard to see why. It’s also interesting to see that some of the early drafts depicted the device in colors other than black, with one showing it half yellow and half blue, and one just as all yellow. Given that Valve may be looking into different colored models, it seems the company was experimenting with what would look best. Evidently, black won out.
Behind the scenes, concept art, andearly prototypes of well-known videos gamesand hardware are an interesting way for the community to get a peak behind the curtain, as it were. The images ofSteam Deckprototypes, especially how many there seemed to have been, shows just how much unseen work goes into the things gamers enjoy.
