Steam Deck Release Update: What Else to Know

Game console enthusiasts have hotly anticipated Valve’s Steam Deck ever since Valve unveiled it in the summer. This exciting handheld device promises to bring PC-quality gaming experiences to a market desperately in need of a shot in the arm. With the 3DS all but dead and Nintendo’s Switch showing its age, Valve is stepping up to fill the void.

Unfortunately, fans are stuck waiting a little bit longer to get their hands on the new Steam Deck. Just how long exactly? Keep reading to find out — and to discover the reasons for the delay.

Players have already spent months waiting for their Steam Deck pre-orders. When Valve first announced the system, consumers who snagged reservations were issued vague shipping dates. These varied from as early as Q4 2021 to as late as the spring of 2022.

Now, those wait times have officially been pushed back by two months. In a press release that consumers found predictable, Valve announced that the Steam Deck would be late. The key reason? A shortage of essential microchips and other innards.

Valve isn’t the only company to experience a setback due to the global chip shortage. Both NVIDIA and AMD have seen their GPUs suffer the same fate. Since the Steam Deck uses a custom AMD GPU, this delay seemed inevitable from the start.

There are no guarantees — even from a company as highly regarded as Valve. So customers should prepare for another delay, despite Valve’s assurances that this supply chain issue will be ironed out.

Customers who already have a Steam Deck reservation can easily check the new date listed for their device. Simply search for ‘Steam Deck’ in the Store on Steam to find all three versions of the device. If a customer made a pre-order, the site will list an updated order availability date.

Impatient gamers worldwide are hoping that Q2 2022 will mean April and not June. There are a couple of different factors impacting availability: one positive and one negative.

On the plus side, three different Steam Deck models mean each one shouldn’t be in overwhelmingly high demand. Unfortunately, on the negative side, this is still a highly anticipated device, so shortages aren’t out of the realm of possibility.

One of the main factors contributing to the Steam Deck release date update is the chip shortage. These days, computer chips are in almost everything. From watches and fitness trackers to toasters and toys, the demand for “smart” devices continues to soar.

Conversely, global demand for new cars declined severely in 2020. As a response, chip makers turned their attention away from cars and put their resources towards other industries. However, anyone who has been shopping for a new car recently can tell you that demand for automobiles has come racing back. And it’s left chip makers in a difficult position. Now they must divert resources back to automotive microchips and away from other sectors.

Some might ask why Valve — a gigantic company with billions in revenue — can’t just jump the line and get their chips made over someone else’s. It’s a valid question, but one that lacks perspective.

Valve is a powerhouse in the gaming world, but when compared to device giants like Apple and Samsung, they are relative lightweights. And don’t forget about Sony and Microsoft, who are still failing to meet the outrageous demand for the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles. As a result, Valve simply must wait its turn in line, not unlike the millions of fans now waiting just a little bit longer for a Steam Deck.

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