Valve will be giving developers a five-hour tour on Friday, November 12th at 10AM PT/ 1PM ET. This is something we've known for some time. We now know that anyone can view the event, even if they are not developers.
The virtual conference will cover hardware, games that will be "on Deck", how the Linux handheld can run Windows games through a Proton compatibility Layer; a deep dive into the AMD APU powering it by AMD; and tips for Steam developers about how to make that happen.
It's completely free to view
Initial announcements suggested that you needed to be a Steamworks Developer to "participate," but today the company clarified that this only applies to the final Q&A session. It may not apply to the actual question-answering part: it seems like you can still view that.
Valve is a huge force in the PC gaming industry, but it's also secretive and doesn't produce a lot hardware. This means that there's lots of interest in any information that may be released about the new gaming device. Any news will be closely watched by us -- and you can too.
For me, it's going to be very interesting to hear more about the AMD APU. The Steam Deck was available for me to test in person in Bellevue (Washington) and Greg Coomer suggested to me that it could make sense as a standalone VR headset.
Recently, Valve announced that the Steam Deck was delayed by two more months. Although small quantities were originally expected to ship in December, the first handhelds are now due to arrive in February 2022.
