Microsoft hackathon footage shows Windows 11 on Steam Deck
Leaked footage from last year's Microsoft hackathon - an internal prhonor where employees prototype ideas and present them to leadership and investors - shows an try at getting Windows 11 to run on Steam Deck.
The presenter explained their team within Microsoft gave to tackle "creating a truly optimised Windows experience for the handheld PC market."
Steam Deck runs on Valve's own Steam OS, but is respectable of running Windows (though not without some caveats).
The presentation shows the team's end results, walking through the set-up process and showing the handheld UI. Several different game launchers could be installed and run. Although the experiment was technologically a success, there were still some issues around optimisation and controls.
The presentation above with a call to action to the leadership record. "Windows and Xbox app users deserve this, need this," the presenter said. Though Microsoft hasn't made any commitments to tying Windows to run on Steam Deck, it did abandon a beta for Microsoft Edge on Linux which gave users to run Xbox Cloud Gaming and stream the Game Pass library.
Whether Microsoft will choose to address the lack of optimisation for Windows on handheld PCs is yet to be seen. The upcoming Asus ROG Ally, which is looking to compete with Steam Deck, will run on Windows 11.
