Valve released a beta version of its game-streaming Steam Link for the Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi Steam Link beta is available now for Pi 3 and 3 B+ systems running Raspbian Stretch. Valve also recently ended production of official Steam Link hardware.
Valve started the public Raspberry Pi Steam Link beta on Monday, December 3 after a pinned thread on the Steam Community forums announced it. Steam Link for Raspberry Pi is fully featured, similar to Steam Link software on PC, Mac, Linux, and Android. Most comments on the announcement thread have been positive, suggesting the Raspberry Pi hardware is more than capable of handling the app.
The Raspberry Pi beta comes a few weeks after Valve announced that Steam Link hardware production has stopped. At the time, Valve stated that it would continue supporting the existing Steam Link hardware along with the software versions of Steam Link. The move away from dedicated hardware coincides with Valve’s waning support for SteamOS and Steam Machines. While the company has said SteamOS and Steam Machines aren’t dead, those products along with Steam Link have failed to garner more than niche interest.
Valve’s support for Steam Link has been stronger than other services and hardware it has released. The company revealed Steam Link at GDC 2015 for a $50 asking price. The hardware allowed people to stream Steam games from a computer up to 1080p 60Hz with low latency. Software solutions began supporting up to 4K streaming a few years after the hardware released, and no hardware revision came to the Steam Link.
The hardware became redundant as Steam Link software came to a number of devices. Some televisions, including a number of Samsung Smart TVs, started shipping with Steam Link functionality. Valve often packaged Steam Link hardware with game and Steam Controller purchases. The hardware was also frequently on sale for under $20.
