Valve’s SteamOS 3.8 just broke wide open

Valve released SteamOS 3.8.0 in preview today, and it’s the biggest expansion of the operating system yet. For the first time, it supports the upcoming Steam Machine — Valve’s living room gaming PC that’s been in the works for years.

But that’s not even the main event. SteamOS 3.8 now runs on handhelds from basically every major manufacturer. Microsoft and Asus’ Xbox Ally series work. So do the Lenovo Legion Go 2, OneXPlayer X1, and devices from MSI, GPD, Anbernic, OrangePi, and Zotac. Valve’s own Steam Deck gets improvements too, including new features for its handhelds that users have been asking for.

The update marks a major shift in Valve’s strategy — moving SteamOS from a Steam Deck exclusive to an open platform that anyone building a portable gaming device can use.