Valve would have big plans to allow your PC and its portable console to communicate with each other in the context of game downloads. The idea? Allow direct and local transfer of content between PC and Steam Deck.
Valve wants to save you from having to download the same game twice to be able to play it on your PC on the one hand… and your Steam Deck the other. To do this (and potentially also to spare the Steam servers a little), Gabe Newell’s firm is currently working on setting up a local sharing system in peer-to-peer allowing you to transfer a game previously downloaded and installed on PC directly to the Steam Deck – or vice versa.
In any case, this is what the programmer Pavel Djundik deduces from clues discovered in the Steam code. On Twitter, the interested party (known for his work on SteamDB) explains that Valve seems to be at work on “LAN peer-to-peer Steam downloads», and according to him, the idea would indeed be to prevent players from redundant downloads between their PC and their Deck.
A very simple solution… that might save time and energy
« A good example would be downloading games to Steam Deck directly from your PC instead of using the Internet.“, explains Pavel Djundik, adding that the system imagined by Valve might also be able to “play the game installed on the disc» to avoid the step «decryption of each section» content intended for transfer. The operation might then gain speed.
Valve is seemingly working on peer-to-peer Steam downloads on LAN. pic.twitter.com/o6fXYo7gHK
— Pavel Djundik (@thexpaw) October 27, 2022
A mention added by Valve allows us to learn a little more. “This feature allows your PC to transfer game files to and from other PCs or Steam Decks on your local network, reducing your internet traffic when downloading or updating a game“Explains the firm in a file that has nothing official yet, at least for now.
Clearly, local sharing of game files would go both ways between a PC and a Steam Deck, and it would also concern updates to avoid any untimely downloads that have already occurred on at least one of your devices. Finally, still according to Pavel Djundik, Valve would plan to offer several settings to users to let them authorize this local sharing to their own devices only, their friends or any user connected to the same network.
We will have to wait a little longer before having more details on this feature, but it seems to be relatively complete as it stands. Under these conditions, it would not be surprising if Valve told us more soon… and this time through official channels.
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