Valve’s Steam Deck won’t be out until February 2022, according to an official announcement released today. This is a two-month pushback from the original release date, which was to be December of this year.
Apparently, the cause of the delay is “global supply chain issues” and “material shortages”. It seems likely that some combination of the slow movement of components and the global chip shortage are both to blame. The Steam Deck isn’t the first casualty of the current lack of components: earlier this year, it was revealed that Sony would be unable to meet PS5 demand through 2022.
The reservation queue remains intact — customers who pre-ordered will keep their place in line, and all reservations will be pushed back accordingly. Valve is currently working on creating new reservation dates, and customers should be able to view their updated estimates soon.
While it won’t end up under anyone’s tree this Christmas, the Steam Deck still looks like a solid choice for PC Gaming in 2022. It takes advantage of AMD’s new RDNA 2 architecture to make Triple-A gaming on a handheld device possible, and you’ll even be able to use your Steam Deck as a desktop if you want. Steam Decks start at $399, with higher-storage models running $529 and $649 for 256 and 512 gigabytes of storage, respectively.
You can read the full announcement below, and you can let us know what you think of the delay in the comments!
Steam Deck Shipping Update
The launch of Steam Deck will be delayed by two months. We’re sorry about this-we did our best to work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components aren’t reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates.
Based on our updated build estimates, Steam Deck will start shipping to customers February 2022. This will be the new start date of the reservation queue-all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly after this announcement.
Again, we’re sorry we won’t be able to make our original ship date. We’ll continue working to improve reservation dates based on the new timeline, and will keep folks updated as we go.
To view your updated expected order availability and FAQ, please visit https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck.
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