Valve president Gabe Newell has given a rare interview to IGN, where he talks about why the company’s upcoming Steam Deck handheld exists and the philosophy the company had when designing it. The interview is worth a watch to see Newell and developer Pierre-Loup Griffais discuss the motivation behind creating an “open” device (with Newell mentioning that you could hook up an Oculus Quest to it if you wanted), along with what discussions inside Valve led to the system’s development. IGN also has a write-up summarizing the interview if you’d rather read than watch.

Newell also discusses the obvious comparison between the Steam Deck and the Nintendo Switch, saying Valve has chosen different trade-offs when creating its portable gaming system. The interview covers more topics, like the future of work at Valve, Newell’s interest in medical research, and how the company is trying to avoid the stock problems that have plagued consoles like the PS5, Xbox Series X, and Switch. Of course, it wouldn’t be an interview with Gabe Newell if he wasn’t asked a question about Half-Life, which he answers by saying that “[Half-Life: Alyx’s ending] feels like the right progression for where we’re going with Half-Life.”

For those interested in Valve and the Steam Deck, this interview is well worth a watch. To paraphrase Newell talking about the Steam Deck: you’ll know if it's for you pretty quickly.