Valve’s next mystery gadget could be imminent

Now Valve may be gearing up to deliver at least one of its hardware ideas. South Korea’s National Radio Research Agency has certified a “low power wireless device” from Valve with the designation “RC-V1V-1030”, as spotted by @dxpl on Arca.live (via Brad Lynch).

The South Korean certification tells us virtually nothing about the device, except that it uses 5 GHz Wi-Fi, which most computers already have at this point. It could be just about anything.

But telecommunications regulatory agencies generally don’t require certification for in-house prototypes, only if you plan to import at least a small amount of devices into a country and perhaps put them on sale. (For what it’s worth, it looks like the Valve Index was certified by South Korea. After this was first announced.)

The Valve device hasn’t yet appeared in the US FCC database, nor the Bluetooth SIG – and it may never appear in either. Valve managed to get the Steam Deck past the FCC undetected early, having its Wi-Fi/Bluetooth provider Realtek recertify the wireless module rather than certifying the Steam Deck itself.

There are other clues in Valve’s own code though: PhoronixMichael Larabel of , noticed that Valve had added some new changes around the Steam Deck’s Van Gogh APU, including the mysterious “Galileo” product name and the “Sephirot” product family. (Aerith, closely related to Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VIIis another name for the Deck’s APU.)

While Larabel initially suggests it might just be a Steam Deck refresh reference card, Valve’s Greg Coomer told me in 2021 that the Steam Deck’s existing APU might make sense in a standalone VR headset. However, a new Steam Controller gamepad would not contain a full Steam Deck chip, so that seems less likely.

“We’re not ready to say anything about it, but it would work well in this environment, with the necessary TDP…it’s very relevant to us and our future plans,” he told me. he says.