While gamers are busy fixating on the powerful new hardware that just launched, Valve, the company behind the Steam platform, is quietly making a strategic move that could completely change how we play games. By investing behind the scenes in emulation technology that runs PC games on mobile (Arm) chips, Valve is opening the door to bringing its enormous game library to phones and tablets in the near future.
The Plan to Bring PC Games to Mobile Chips
At Valve's major hardware announcement last month, most of the spotlight fell on the return of the Steam Machine concept. But one small yet valuable detail in the company's upcoming standalone virtual reality (VR) headset project carries far bigger implications for the future of PC gaming. Valve's plans beyond next year are still a mystery, but the Steam Frame is expected to become a strategic "Trojan horse," helping the company bring its platform to nearly every mobile device available today.
Speaking recently with the tech news site The Verge, Valve representatives revealed that the company has spent years funding the development of emulators and code "translation" layers. The core goal of this persistent effort is to let games designed for PC chips (typically Intel or AMD x86 architecture) run directly on Arm chips, the compact, power-efficient processors now widely used in phones and tablets.
The work of developers, both in-house staff and partners outside the company, is aimed at a future where Windows games can run smoothly on Android and other platforms. Most notably, this approach lets you play directly on the device, without rewriting the game (porting) and without relying on an internet connection to stream video from another computer, as was necessary before.
Technically, this is already possible today through the GameHub app. It is an Android interface that can run many PC games right on phones and tablets using an emulator called Fex. Valve has also confirmed it will use this same Fex technology to run Windows games on its upcoming VR headset, the Steam Frame. The device is reportedly powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, a mobile chip built on the Arm architecture.
A Decade of Quiet Preparation
One interesting detail that few people knew about until recently is that Valve has been the main financial backer of the Fex project for almost ten years. In a detailed interview, Pierre-Loup Griffais, the lead architect of the SteamOS operating system and the Steam Deck handheld, explained the company's long-term vision. He said Valve began hiring software engineers who specialized in Linux and code translation layers for Arm chips back in 2016 and 2017.
At that point, Valve wasn't actually targeting any specific hardware device. However, in a recent conversation with Road to VR, the company revealed that lens research for the Steam Frame began around 2018, even before its predecessor, the Index headset, was released. Even then, the company clearly understood that Arm processors, the "heart" of most phones and tablets, would be essential for the product to reach an accessible price and good battery life.
Valve also knew that building code "translation" layers good enough to ship would take about a decade of development. Although Ryan Houdek, the lead developer of the Fex project, is not a full-time Valve employee, the company pays him enough that he can treat building this technology as his full-time job.
A Wide-Open Future for the Steam Ecosystem
The effects of this strategy could reach well beyond letting the Steam Frame VR headset run Windows games without a cable to a PC. Valve says that although it isn't currently developing any other Arm-based devices itself, many third-party hardware makers have expressed particular interest in its SteamOS operating system.
Fex could also be the key to game compatibility on newer Windows laptops with Qualcomm chips and on future Android-based PCs. Qualcomm plans to encourage game developers to start releasing native Arm versions of their games in 2026, much as Apple did with Apple Silicon. Griffais, however, said Valve's view is entirely different. The company believes that forcing developers to rework the source code (port) of every game is an unnecessary waste of time.
In addition, a different version of the company's well-known Proton compatibility layer can now run Android software directly on SteamOS. The original purpose was to make it easy for developers to bring games from Android XR and Meta Quest headsets to the Steam Frame. But it also happens to open a potential door to running native mobile apps on the Steam platform on other devices.
Other interesting opportunities could emerge if government regulators force Google and Apple to open up the "walled gardens" on their mobile devices. The European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA), which Apple and the US government oppose, has forced Apple to allow sideloading and to accept alternative app stores on the iPhone and iPad in Europe. Epic Games has already started taking advantage of these new rules.
Meanwhile, Google is making moves to restrict sideloading on Android, but authorities in many countries are also trying to pass laws to counter these monopolistic policies. If those legal efforts succeed, an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy becoming a true "Steam phone" could well happen in the future.
