Gabe Newell, head of Valve, has confirmed that there are currently no plans for the company to introduce a game subscription service, like Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass or EA's EA Play.
Despite the release of its highly-anticipated and all-new handheld system, Steam Deck, Newell says that while he understands that subscription services are "clearly a popular option" with some gamers, he doesn't "think it's something [Valve] needs to do" despite their popularity.
He did, however, suggest that the company would be open to working with third-party partners such as Microsoft to "get [subscription services] on Steam".
"I don't think it's something that we think we need to do ourselves, building a subscription service at this time," Newell told our friends over at PC Gamer.
"But for their customers, it's clearly a popular option, and we'd be more than happy to work with them to get that on Steam."
Still undecided on Steam Deck? In our Steam Deck review, we said: "Steam Deck is everything Valve promised, a handheld with all the potential of a PC and a huge library of games ready to go," giving it 4.5 stars out of 5.
"Owning it is a game-changer and reviewing it is a nightmare. That's good news for the real customers though because it's a testament to the energy and effort Valve is putting into getting all the bugs and glitches smoothed out before it ever reaches your hands."
Interestingly, though, Rachel pointed out in her review that while this is a Steam machine, there's currently no easy way to set up other launchers, like the Epic Games Store on Steam Deck, as Epic only provides downloads for Windows PCs and Mac. We suspect Epic will be looking for solutions sooner rather than later, but for now, be aware that you can only launch titles from Epic Games if you use open-source launchers.
ICYMI, Valve is improving Steam Cloud Sync to make it easier to switch between its handheld and PC and those wanting to find out how much of their library will be available to play on the Steam Deck can now do so right here.
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