It's no secret that the world's current obsession with AI has resulted in the cost of RAM going through the roof, and this, in turn, has caused a dramatic spike in the price of gaming hardware – including the existing Steam Deck OLED model.

You'd imagine, then, that this may give Valve a reason to pause and reconsider its plans for the Steam Deck's inevitable successor, especially when you look at the sky-high cost of competing devices in this space, like the AYANEO Next 2, which tops out at (gulp) over $5,000.

However, Valve software developer Pierre-Loup Griffais – who spoke to IGN recently – has revealed that the ongoing RAMpocalypse hasn't changed the company's strategy much.

"We've talked before about how we want to make sure there's a very delineated performance improvement for something like a future Steam Deck, and I think we're still looking at it in the same way," says Griffais. "It's just a matter of looking at the current conditions and seeing how and when we can deliver something like that. But from what we're working on, as far as the user experience goes and what the product that we're trying to build goes, it's very similar goals."

So, Valve is still keen to soldier on with the Steam Deck 2, but Griffais' use of the word "when" is telling; perhaps the company is content to sit on the concept of a new handheld until the market conditions are more favourable – or, as it has done with the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, it might just push one out regardless of cost and see how its audience responds.