SteamOS 3.8.0 Preview Reveals Possible Steam Machine Updates Soon
SteamOS 3.8.0 preview introduces early Steam Machine support, hinting that Valve may be getting closer to revealing new hardware.
Today, Valve released a new SteamOS 3.8.0 preview update (currently only available in the preview channel), bringing a wide range of changes.
As seen in the official changelog on the Steam notes page, one of the first highlights is: “Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware.” Since Valve has remained silent about the Steam Machine’s release date and pricing, any mention of it immediately call our attention.
This gives us a bit of hope that more news about the Steam Machine could be coming soon. The fact that recent SteamOS updates are already referencing the hardware may suggest that its release isn’t as far away as it seemed after the delay announced earlier this year. Of course, this is just speculation—but at least we’re starting to see some movement.
Beyond that, this update includes many other important changes, such as updates to the Arch Linux base system and improvements to graphics drivers. Here’s a list of the general changes:
- Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware
- Updated Arch system base
- Updated graphics driver with performance and stability fixes
- Fix a case where per-app performance settings would intermittently fail to apply when launching a game
- Improved support for the screencasts in Game Mode (e.g. OBS/Discord)
- Fixed dropdown menus not appearing in some games
- Improved VRR frame pacing
- Fixed FSR badge remaining off in the performance overlay, even if it was actually active
- Improved support for games that attempt to open PDF files in external viewers
- Fixed an issue affecting certain titles (such as "SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide") where the game window could have an incorrect position
- Fixed closing certain titles (such as "STAR WARS Jedi: Survivor™") and Starfield resulting in a session crash
- Improved support for certain USB racing wheels and USB devices that boot in a non-standard mode
- Frequently these are devices that appear as USB storage devices with a driver installer, and must be switched to their normal mode by the OS
- Steam Deck controller firmware updates now display update progress on the splash screen
- Fixes issue on specific Steam Deck revisions where firmware updates could render the left controller inoperative for that session
- Numerous stability and security updates
When do you think Valve will announce the release date of Steam Machine and what price do you expect? Leave it in the comments!
