Windows gaming handheld mode

Hollow Knight on a Steam Deck. © Valve Corporation.

If you’ve installed Windows on a Steam Deck using Valve drivers, you’ve noticed that the operating system doesn’t work well with touch-screen and controller interactions. The team at Microsoft is alive to the problem, if a leaked video showing interface prototypes optimized for handheld computers on Twitter is any indicator. The video was created during a hackathon at Microsoft, in which staff regularly present ideas that sometimes end up getting picked up and marketed by the company. The UX prototype, though still at an early stage, includes a launcher to open games by Steam, PC Game Pass, EA Play, Epic Games Store, and others, a keyboard optimized for the Steam Deck that can be operated with a controller, and even a floating taskbar. As the video concludes, it sends out a call to Microsoft employees to finally get on board handheld gaming on Windows, to improve Microsoft’s image and credibility in the gaming community.

⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “Microsoft is experimenting with a Windows gaming handheld mode for Steam Deck-like devices.”

2023-04-13