Valve’s New Trademark: Is It Their Next Gaming Console?

In a unique start to his ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration on September 30, U.S. District Court Judge William Young included a scanned handwritten note sent to his office. The note read: “Trump has pardons and tanks – what do you have?” At the top of Young’s opinion in AAUP v. Rubio, which ruled that Trump’s effort to deport foreign-born student protesters was unconstitutional.

October 8, 2025

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Before the Steam Deck, it appeared that Valve had decided to stay out of the hardware business, focusing instead on its significant share of the PC gaming market. However, with the success of the Steam Deck and the rise of other handheld PCs, the idea of a Steam console doesn’t seem as far-fetched anymore. We’ve already heard rumors about an RDNA 4-powered device in development at Valve. Now, it looks like we might have learned what Valve will be calling this potential new product: Steam Frame.

The recently discovered trademarks for computer hardware and a computer game console, both filed by Valve on September 2, 2025, suggest that the official name could indeed be Steam Frame. These trademarks were spotted on Reddit, adding some intrigue to the speculation around Valve’s next move in gaming hardware.

While the name ‘Steam Frame’ is more creative than previous attempts like “Steam Console” or “Steam Machine,” it’s important to take these rumors with a grain of salt until we have an official confirmation from Valve. Nonetheless, it would be exciting to consider how Valve might approach creating a new console now that they’ve demonstrated success with the Steam Deck. If they can strike a balance between power, pricing, and most importantly, upgradability—such as allowing users to swap or add components easily—the Steam Frame could potentially become a game-changing device.