One perk of PC gaming is that the big two console manufacturers keep releasing their best games on Steam, so we don’t have to pick between one or the other. A little over a week ago, PlayStation had its own big sale that slashed prices on games like God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man.

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.

Valve are likely up to something hardware-related again, report NotebookCheck. Their next chunk of plastic and wires – following the Valve Index, Steam Deck and Steam Deck OLED – could swap PC gaming’s favoured x86 architecture for ARM, the type of processor favoured by the Nintendo Switch, Macs, and mobile phones.

Valve is bridging its x86 library with ARM framework support for possible Steam games on mobile. The focus on ARM64 hints at expanded cross-platform support for SteamOS. Speculation includes Steam games on mobile and the potential development of Valve's standalone VR headset.

Proton, a compatibility layer developed by Valve and CodeWeavers, lets Windows games run on Linux-based systems like the Steam Deck. These tags suggest that Valve is working on an ARM64-optimized version of Proton,

Valve, which operates Steam, the largest online marketplace for PC games, has worked hard to hedge against the possibility of Microsoft turning Windows into a closed marketplace-Linux gaming is taking off and Valve branched out into hardware to run it.

The Steam Deck might be the most popular Linux PC ever, though you’d be forgiven if you haven’t realized that its SteamOS software is technically Linux. The Proton compatibility layer is the Steam Deck’s special sauce,

Valve may be developing an ARM64 version of Proton for Linux gaming. Hundreds of games, like Left 4 Dead, have been tested for compatibility using a new 64-bit layer. The potential for ARM64-based portable consoles opens exciting new possibilities.