Valve is making a notable shift with its portable gaming strategy as Lenovo debuted a new edition of its Legion Go gaming handheld that runs Valve’s custom operating system.

It's official: Valve's SteamOS will be available on more platforms soon, and the first handheld PC gaming device to adopt the operating system will be the new Lenovo Legion Go S. At CES 2025, it was revealed that the slim Lenovo unit will run on the Linux-based OS--, the same one used on Valve's Steam Deck.

Lenovo is trying an experiment. In May, it will officially become the very first company outside of Valve to ship a handheld gaming PC with the Steam Deck’s wonderfully pick-up-and-play SteamOS instead of Microsoft Windows. And at $499, it’ll be a true Steam Deck rival, joining it as one of the lower-priced PC handhelds you can buy.

The Steam Deck is no longer the only SteamOS-based gaming handheld on the market. A more expensive Windows version of the Legion Go S will be available first.

Lenovo has finally announced a new line of Legion Go handheld PCs, with one that will come installed with SteamOS out of the box. The new model is called the Legion Go S, and it's the world's first handheld PC from a third-party manufacturer using Valve's operating system.

Lenovo has announced two new iterations on the Legion Go, a PC gaming handheld it released in October 2023. The Legion Go 2 will be a beefier—and likely pricier—version of Lenovo's first-generation device,

Valve will begin allowing third-party handhelds to license SteamOS starting with Lenovo's new Legion Go S. At CES 2025, Lenovo announced that it will ship a version of its upcoming Legion Go S handheld called the "Powered by SteamOS" that will run,

SteamOS is the same operating system we run on Steam Deck, and the team is making updates to ensure it fully supports the Lenovo Legion Go S and provides the same seamless experience customers expect.