When Valve's Steam Deck releases next month, the handheld device will offer a new Dynamic Cloud Sync feature that will allow users to shift save data between devices fairly easily. Essentially, when using Dynamic Cloud Sync, the player's progress on Steam Deck will automatically transfer to the cloud when the system is put in sleep mode. Announced in a blog post earlier today, the feature will not be available in all games; according to Valve, developers will have to manually enable the option in Steamworks. Otherwise, users will be prompted to exit the software on their Steam Deck when they open the game on PC, or start from an older save file.

"We anticipate that users will frequently suspend their Steam Deck without exiting the game, as is common with other hand-held gaming devices. With Dynamic Cloud Sync, if they then choose to play on another device (whether a PC or another Steam Deck), their progress will be there waiting for them," the blog post reads.

While the reference to "other hand-held gaming devices" immediately brings Nintendo Switch to mind, it also seems to have a lot in common with the Analogue Pocket and even Xbox Cloud Gaming. In the modern era, giving gamers more options to play their favorite games is a safe bet, and any option that makes things easier to jump back and forth should be embraced. This could even make the Steam Deck more appealing to those on the fence.

It will be interesting to see how the Steam Deck performs for Valve! Nintendo has found a lot of success with the Switch, but it's safe to say that the PC audience and Nintendo audience are quite different from one another. It's easy to see how the Steam Deck could be a tempting purchase for some PC gamers, especially as Valve finds more ways to make the PC and handheld experiences complement one another. For now, Steam fans will just have to wait and see how things play out!



Posted: Jan 26, 2022 8:10 pm
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/valve-steam-deck-dynamic-cloud-sync-feature-revealed-pc/