Valve will be Lenovo’s ‘special guest’ at just-announced gaming handheld event

“The future of gaming handhelds is coming to CES ‘25 and you have a front row seat!” the email in my inbox exclaims.

Let me translate: it looks like Lenovo just tacitly confirmed it will announce its first SteamOS handheld in Las Vegas on or before January 7th, 2025. We’re expecting it to be the Steam button equipped Legion Go S that leaker Evan Blass revealed last week.

Why do I say that? The January 7th event, titled “Lenovo Legion x AMD: The Future of Gaming Handhelds,” will feature a special guest: Valve SteamOS and Steam Deck co-designer Pierre-Loup Griffais. Lenovo and AMD are calling him Valve’s “Chief Design Architect” for purposes of this event.

(Most Valve employees are simply considered designers internally, since they fluidly switch between teams and tasks; I believe Griffais once told me he prefers the same, but it’s true he’s also been one of the few public faces of SteamOS and the Steam Deck. It’s a fascinating company.)

Griffais won’t be the only intriguing choice of panelist on stage: Jason Ronald, Microsoft VP of Xbox Gaming Devices and Ecosystem will also be in attendance. He's now being introduced as Microsoft’s “VP of Next Generation."

We exclusively shared with you last week that Lenovo will revamp its larger, seemingly Windows-based Legion Go with detachable controllers, too. And we’re also expecting Lenovo to hedge its bets with a Windows version of the smaller Legion Go S based on those same leaks. It's a reasonable bet some, if not all of these devices will come with AMD’s yet-to-be-detailed Z2 Extreme chips.

Here’s the full description of the event:

Join us for a cocktail reception hosted by Lenovo Legion and AMD gaming leaders, with special guests Valve and other gaming industry giants. We’ll be sharing our thoughts on what lies ahead in the gaming handheld space and showcasing our latest Lenovo Legion Go innovations advanced by AMD. Come to hear how Lenovo Legion and AMD Ryzen are making gaming more immersive for all and stay to experience the future of handheld gaming firsthand!

We’re not currently expecting Microsoft to surprise with an Xbox handheld at the event, as gaming boss Phil Spencer has suggested that might be a few years away. But it’s possible that Microsoft and Lenovo will try to suggest that all handhelds are Xbox handhelds, like Microsoft does in its new “This is an Xbox” marketing campaign:

I’ll be attending, and I’ll let you know!