Valve slowly expands SteamOS support on non-Valve hardware

Ars Technica reports that Valve’s SteamOS 3.8.25 Beta is taking another small step toward broader support on non-Valve handhelds. The update adds initial gamepad support for a handful of recent portable PCs and improves compatibility for several existing models, continuing Valve’s slow but steady push beyond the Steam Deck ecosystem.

The most notable addition is MSI’s Claw 8 AI+, a high-end Intel-based handheld that launched this summer. That matters because SteamOS has historically been friendlier to AMD-powered devices, while Intel handhelds have been a tougher fit. Seeing the Claw line included suggests Valve is still investing in that path rather than treating it as a dead end.

SteamOS 3.8.25 Beta also adds support for the built-in controllers on Ayaneo’s Android-focused Pocket S2 and the Windows-based Konkr Fit. On top of that, Valve says support has been improved for older MSI Claw devices and for the OneXPlayer family of portable gaming PCs.

For developers, the practical takeaway is that SteamOS is becoming a more realistic target for a wider slice of handheld PC hardware. That could reduce fragmentation headaches for UI, input, and performance tuning, but it also raises the bar for testing across different chipsets, controller layouts, and vendor-specific quirks.