When Will Valve Finally Release the Steam Deck 2?
The next Steam Deck might be on the horizon, but with the current RAM shortage, nothing is set in stone. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has made waves at the box office, breaking records despite mixed reviews. Meanwhile, the political satire in the fifth and final season of The Boys has already been overshadowed by real-life events, and it hasn’t even premiered yet. Welcome to your Morning Checkpoint for April 2, 2026, where I’m nursing a hangover from too many Icees during the Mario Galaxy Movie.
If you haven’t checked out the review from our managing editor, it’s worth a look. I took my two kids to see it, and one of them was experiencing a movie theater for the first time, so I’ll say, “Critics be damned, they loved it!” However, it didn’t quite capture the magic of the original. On the bright side, it has me even more excited for the upcoming Yoshigame next month. In the meantime, the recent Super Mario Wonder DLC has turned out to be a delightful little appetizer.
According to hardware insider KeplerL2, there are whispers about the next Steam Deck. “They were aiming for 2028, but the RAM/NAND situation could push it back,” they shared on NeoGAF. “Also, since they don’t have a semi-custom SoC like the PS6/Xbox, if it gets delayed, it might end up with better specs.”
Valve has previously stated that they’re taking their time to find the right chip, aiming for a significant upgrade without compromising battery life. “We really want to wait for a generational leap in compute before we release the true second generation of Steam Deck,” the company mentioned back in 2024.
The revamped layout will showcase more games and provide clearer reasons for why they’re being recommended to users. A more prominent Wishlist section is also on the way. “We’ve added detailed information highlighting why a game is being suggested to you, along with a user review round-up,” the company explained. “When you hover over a game’s cover art, a micro-trailer will play for a quick glimpse of the action. Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek at adjacent games in the carousel.”
A new job listing is looking for a “Lead Designer, Innovation” with experience in Unreal Engine. Notably, all of the company’s previous titles, aside from Hearthstone, were developed using proprietary tools, which fuels speculation that Blizzard might be working on a shooter spin-off of StarCraft. However, if that’s the case, it’s likely still years away from seeing the light of day.
In a recent interview, showrunner Eric Kripke expressed disappointment about the timing of The Boys’ writing. “We wrote it before the election,” he said. “It sounds super naive now, but the plan was to create a 1984-style depiction of creeping authoritarianism in America, hoping everyone would think, ‘Whew, we really dodged a bullet.’ Instead, we got hit with the bullet.”
He added, “A lot of things we thought were far-fetched have come to pass in a really troubling way. There’s a line in Episode 7 that Homelander says, which we thought was the craziest thing we could imagine, and it’s already happened.”
In other news, all normal Pokémon Greetings and TCG meetups are on hold for April due to “unforeseen circumstances,” likely referring to the tragic stabbing of a Pokémon Center employee last week. Competitive events will still take place, but without any spectators.
The movie’s opening day grossed $34 million, surpassing the first film’s $31.7 million and Project Hail Mary’s $33 million, making it the highest April opening ever. This is particularly impressive given the poor early reviews, although the first-week earnings are expected to lag slightly behind the original film.
