SteamOS is officially expanding beyond the Steam Deck with the arrival of the Lenovo Legion Go S.
The Legion Go S was unveiled at CES 2025 and will become the first officially licensed third-party handheld to leverage Valve's operating system.
Notably, Valve has pledged to fully support the device to "improve compatibility with other handhelds." It will ship a beta version of SteamOS that can be used on other handheld devices before the Legion Go S launches in May 2025.
That's big news for anybody who wants to start tinkering with the operating system on third-party hardware. "The same work that we are doing to support the Lenovo Legion Go S will improve compatibility with other handhelds," said Valve.
"Ahead of Legion Go S shipping, we will be shipping a beta of SteamOS which should improve the experience on other handhelds, and users can download and test this themselves. And of course we'll continue adding support and improving the experience with future releases."
Valve explained it wants SteamOS to "provide the same seamless experience customers expect" across an array of hardware. As it stands, the OS only officially ships on Steam Deck, but Valve is committed to expanding support.
The operating system is Linux based and according to Valve "runs the vast majority of the Steam library" thanks to a Proton compatibility layer. "This allows developers to ship games for Windows without worrying about porting to Linux, and games will seamlessly work on SteamOS," added the company.
Titles that run well on SteamOS are handed a 'Deck Verified' seal of approval by Valve so Steam Deck owners know what sort of experience they're likely to have before splashing the cash.
The Steam Deck had sold "multiple millions" of units as of November 2023.
That vague metric was dished out by Valve, which hasn't provided precise sales figures but has boasted about increasing production over the years. It has also expanded the Steam Deck lineup with the launch of an OLED model.
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