After three years of requests, Steam Deck finally lets players download games with the screen off

Until now players have had to keep their console on while downloading games and updates

After three years of requests, Steam Deck finally lets players download games with the screen off

Valve has updated the Steam Deck firmware with one of the most frequently requested features.

Since the handheld launched in February 2022, players have had to keep the device powered on with the screen on to download games and updates.

Players have complained that this can be frustrating when they’re trying to download a large game and want to turn their Steam Deck off, but have to wait until the download is finished. If they turn off the handheld, the downloading is paused.

Today, however, Valve has added a new low-power download mode for Steam Deck, allowing it to complete active downloads in “a new display-off power mode”. Once the downloads are complete, the handheld automatically goes into sleep mode.

While the handheld is downloading with the screen off, players can either press a button or move the handheld to briefly turn on an information screen showing the download status. From there they can either keep downloading with the screen off, or fully wake the handheld again.

This new feature – which is currently available to Steam Deck users in the Beta and Preview channels and will eventually roll out to all users – is enabled by default when the Steam Deck is plugged into a power supply. Players who want to also enable it when it’s running on battery power can go into Settings -> Power to turn it on.

According to Valve, the new feature can be triggered in two ways. While the handheld is downloading content, players can press the Power button to bring up a new dialogue box which asks them if they want to keep downloading with the screen off. If a Steam Deck is left idle for a set time, it will also move to the low-power download mode automatically.

Back in November 2023, during the launch of the Steam Deck OLED model, Steam Deck product designer Lawrence Yang said the team was working on a ‘Steam Deck 2’, which would feature a “next-generation” upgrade in power, but stressed it wouldn’t be available for “at least two or three years”.