Valve Rumored to Be Developing New Steam Console with RDNA 4: Console Comeback on the Horizon?
Remember the Steam Machine? Valve's ambitious-if somewhat ill-fated-attempt to drag PC gaming into the living room almost ten years ago? Well, rumors are once again circling that Valve might finally be preparing for a return to the console market. This time around, it says here that the company may have a really powerful monster up in their sleeves. And herein comes RDNA 4 into play.
The RDNA 4 Connection: Where the Smoke Signals Are Coming From
The latest rumor comes via Spanish tech insider extas1s, who spotted the information courtesy of HandleDeck.com. The juicy tidbit? It seems Valve is currently working on drivers for AMD's unreleased Radeon RX 9070 graphics cards. And not just any GPUs, mind you, but some of the first that will boast AMD's next-generation RDNA 4 architecture.
"The truth is that Valve is working openly on drivers for the AMD 9070 graphics cards. Those are designed, for the moment, only for desktop devices. Valve is investing a lot of effort in drivers for these RX 9070 GPUs with RDNA 4." - Translation of an excerpt from HandleDeck.com's video
The takeaway here, of course, is that the RX 9070 is a desktop-class GPU. Why would Valve, primarily a portable Steam Deck company, be so vested in drivers for high-end desktop graphics? That's where the console speculation starts to really get hot.
A New Steam Console: "Fremont" in the Works?
That's the rumor that suggests Valve is internally producing a new series of desktop consoles, possibly under the SteamOS branding. Now, the RX 9070 is being pushed as a rumored core component with its RDNA 4 muscle for this so-called "Fremont" project-the speculated codename of this new endeavor of a Steam console.
Of course, there are other possibilities. It is said that Valve might be investigating external GPU solutions for a future Steam Deck revision or even clearing the path for third-party makers. But a dedicated Steam console, especially with recent changes in the console landscape, is a very tempting proposition.
Price vs. Power: The Big Question Mark
Probably the very first question to address would be that the Radeon RX 9070 will be a high-end, thus expensive, GPU. Building a console around such a component will probably make the price of such a console not too low. This may become an obstacle to getting into a mass market. This is the major point for skepticism about this rumor.
But Valve proved with the Steam Deck that it's not above innovating and, when necessary, disrupting established markets. Could it be gunning for a premium, high-performance Steam console to capture a different segment of gamers?
Console Comeback or Something Else?
Whether this rumor pans out to be a full-fledged Steam console, an external GPU project, or something else entirely, it's certainly got the gaming world abuzz. Valve's forays into hardware have always been interesting, from the hits to the misses. A new RDNA 4-powered Steam console would be quite a bold move.
