Elgato's hugely popular Steam Deck range of accessories for the Mac is coming to the iPad, as the company calls on app developers to take part in testing.
There may have once been a single Steam Deck, and it may have been for Mac users who steam video, but those days are long gone. Now there is a whole family of Steam Deck devices, and they are exceptional tools for all Mac users — and, soon, iPad ones.
Steam Deck provides users with a set of hardware buttons — ranging from three on a Steam Deck pedal to 32 on the Steam Deck XL. In every case bar the pedal, each button is actually a screen so as well as being able to program each one to do different things, users can add different icons or images to all of them.
"For years, Steam Deck has been beloved by desktop users for its versatility and ease of use," said the company in a video. "That's why we're excited to bring the power of Steam Deck to iPad for the very first time by introducing Steam Deck Kit and opening a world of possibilities for new users."
It's significant that the announcement is of Steam Deck Kit, rather than a Steam Deck per se. This is an open-source SDK that Elgato is working on for developers "to seamlessly integrate Steam Deck support into their own apps."
So, initially, there is no public app. This announcement is of an alpha release and a call to developers to join the project. Ultimately, though, what will happen is that Elgato's Steam Decks will plug into the USB-C port of M1 iPads or later, and effectively act as they do on a Mac.
On a Mac, the Elgato Steam Deck app runs in the background, but the way that iPadOS works means that this can't be done. Elgato is instead planning for iPad apps to include control of the Steam Deck.
So as you switch from one app to another, responsibility for and control of the Steam Deck device moves with you. That immediately means that Steam Deck for iPad will have the same ability to have all its buttons and functions change to suit the app you're currently using.
It's not clear yet, though, what will happen on the Steam Deck when the user is not in any apps. Nor what will happen if they are in an app, but that app doesn't support the new Steam Deck Kit API.
Elgato says that it will make announcements about the public release later in 2024. For now, it has published developer documentation and also released an early test version of its iPad controller Steam Deck Connect app over TestFlight.
With the introduction of Steam Deck Kit, Elgato is opening up a new realm of possibilities for iPad users, allowing more people to experience the convenience and fun that Steam Deck brings.