Asus ROG Ally To Get Steam Deck OS Support
Valve has confirmed that SteamOS–its Linux-based operating system for the Steam Deck handheld gaming PC–will be coming to the Asus ROG Ally. The company also plans to roll out SteamOS to other rival Windows handhelds, although it has noted that third-party support “isn’t ready to run out of the box yet”. The confirmation comes after the recent release notes for a recent SteamOS beta update mentioned adding support for “extra ROG Ally keys” in the future.
“The note about ROG Ally keys is related to third-party device support for SteamOS”, Valve engineer Lawrence Yang said to The Verge. “The team is continuing to work on adding support for additional handhelds on SteamOS.”
While Asus has yet to comment on its ROG Ally being potentially turned into a Steam machine, an update like this would address a major criticism of the handheld. Asus ROG Ally devices use a Windows 11 operating system, and while that does allow for various game clients to be installed, using the OS can be cumbersome as it’s optimized for desktops, not thumbs and smaller screens. In comparison, SteamOS is a more fluid and user-friendly experience.