If you've tried to secure a Steam Deck in the past week or so, odds are you've been met with a giant “Out of Stock” disclaimer on Valve's own website, especially in the US. As many expected, the reason behind the stock shortage has everything to do with the ongoing shortage of RAM and memory that both consumers and businesses are dealing with right now.
On the Steam Store, the only place consumers can purchase a brand new Steam Deck, a new disclaimer issued by Valve describes the situation the company is currently in.
Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock occasionally in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. The Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production and will no longer be available once sold out.
Currently, all three Steam Deck options are grayed out in the storefront. Granted, the LCD option is gone for good, and the website has yet to be updated to account for its discontinuation.
Things aren't much better on the “Refurbished” side, where every model is currently unavailable for purchase. For anyone who ultimately wants a console, without waiting for a refill, whenever that will be, your best bet is the used market.
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The lack of availability for Valve's flagship handheld comes on the heels of the company not being able to commit to a price point for its upcoming Steam Machine console variant.
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At this point, Valve admits it would have liked to have fixed pricing and a release date. However, the current market situation has forced the company to “turn around” things.
“When we announced these products in November, we planned to be able to share specific pricing and launch dates at this point,” a statement at the time read. “The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components [memory and storage] means we need to review our exact delivery schedule and pricing (especially around the Steam Machine and Steam Frame).”
That said, Valve is far from the only company rethinking its strategy.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Sony could push its PlayStation 6 launch all the way to 2029. The report suggests that at one point it was slated for next year, but it's clear that things have to change.
Elsewhere, Nintendo, which previously confirmed that its Switch 2 console would not undergo an immediate price hike, may actually have to introduce one. That bit lines up with previous analysis that the Switch 2 would get a price hike not unlike the competition sometime in 2026.
The end result is a situation where regular consumers can't buy the things they want, and even if those things come back into stock, there's no telling what the price will be to make up for the shortages. Steam Deck just happens to be the latest victim.
- Stamp
-
steam (valve)
- Original release date
-
February 25, 2022
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$399-$649
- Operating system
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SteamOS 3 (Ark-based)
- Processor
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Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5 GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
- Resolution
-
1200 x 800
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