(Image credit: Future / Katie Watkins)

Valve is "hard at work" building the Steam Deck 2, but there are currently no release plans.

Currently crippled by the RAM crisis, Valve is struggling to get existing Steam Deck models back into stock, let alone launch a replacement. But one of its programmers has confirmed that the device is in development.

"We’re hard at work on it," said Pierre-Loup Griffais in an interview with IGN (via VGC).

"If you look at our hardware projects over the years, you can draw a straight line from the original Steam Controller and Steam Machines to the Steam Deck and to everything that we’re announcing and shipping this year.

"We expect Steam Deck 2 will be a lot of the same, where a lot of what we're doing here will be learnings building up to it."

There were no further details given, but previous reports have suggested that Valve is waiting on significantly improved architecture before it can justify an upgrade. It is likely to be more powerful than the Z2 Extreme chip in the Xbox Ally X and Lenovo Legion Go 2, for example.

Valve is also a relatively small company in comparison with the likes of Lenovo, Asus/Xbox and other gaming handheld manufacturers, so will have been hit by RAMageddon even harder than many peers. It will be focused on ensuring the Steam Machine is released this year before turning its attention to a new Steam Deck.

Still, it's great to think that there is something new on the horizon. And while I'm very pleased with my Lenovo Legion Go S (SteamOS) as things stand, by the time Big Tech stops snaffling up every RAM chip for their AI centres and Valve is ready for an unveiling, I'll likely be ready for an upgrade too.