The future of the Steam deck’s pricing and availability is uncertain
If you’ve been holding out on getting a Steam Deck, then we have some unfortunate news. Valve’s handheld gaming PC is out of stock due to RAM shortages.
Valve offers three Steam Deck variants: the 256GB LCD, the 512GB OLED, and the 1TB OLED. The LCD is no longer in production, which explains why it’s out of stock. However, as noted by Valve’s official Steam Deck homepage, the reason the Steam Deck OLED is out of stock is much more alarming. Underneath the pricing and features of the three Steam Decks, the following is noted: “Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.” The one-terabyte version is still listed as available in certain areas outside the US.
This isn’t the first time that Valve has indicated that it’s having problems acquiring hardware. The Steam Machine, Valve’s answer to making PC gaming more viable by allowing access to PC games via the convenience and comfort of your living room, was recently delayed due to the rising cost of computer components.
In a blog post in early February, Valve further explained how shortages of components were affecting its plans — specifically mentioning memory and storage. “When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing.”
The cheapest Steam Deck OLED handheld costs just under $600, which is a significant amount, even though the Steam Deck is a great way to game. However, Valve admitting that prices are going up for critical components of its products has us wondering whether the same will happen to the Steam Deck.
Polygon has reached out to Valve for comment on how long they expect the shortage to last and if prices will increase when the Steam Deck becomes available again. Valve did not immediately respond to Polygon’s request, but we will update this article accordingly.