If you've tried to secure a Steam deck in the last few weeks or so, especially on Valve's own website in the US you've been met with a giant “out of stock” disclaimer. As expected by many, the reason for the stock shortage is related to the constant shortage of RAM and memory that consumers and companies are currently experiencing.
On the Steam Store, the only place where consumers can buy a brand-new Steam deck, a new disclaimer issued by Valve outlines the situation the company currently finds itself in.
Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. The Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold, will no longer be available.
Currently, all three Steam Deck options are grayed out on the storefront. Yes, the LCD option is gone for good, and the site has yet to be updated to account for its disconnection.
Things aren't much better on the “refurbished” side, where not every model is currently available for purchase. For anyone who finally wants a console, no need to wait for restock, when that happens, your best bet is the second hand market.
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The lack of availability for Valve's flagship handheld device comes with the company's inability to commit to a price point for its upcoming Steam Machine console variant.
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As of now, Valve admits that it wants to have a firm pricing and release date. However, current market conditions have forced the company to “revisit” things.
“When we announced these products in November, we planned to be able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now,” a statement at the time read. “Limited availability and rising prices of these critical components [memory and storage] This means we have to revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machines and Steam Frames).”
That said, Valve is far from the only corporation revisiting strategy.
Earlier on Monday, it was reported that Sony could launch the PlayStation 6 all the way to 2029. The report indicates that, at one point, things were scheduled for next year, but apparently things have changed.
Elsewhere, Nintendo, which previously confirmed that its Switch 2 console won't have an immediate price hike, may actually have to institute one. That bit tracks with previous analysis that the Switch 2 will see a price increase unlike its competition at some point in 2026.
The end result is that ordinary consumers cannot buy the items they want, and even if those items are back in stock, there is no telling what the price will be to make up for the shortage. Steam Deck may be the latest victim.
- brand
-
steam (valve)
- Original release date
-
February 25, 2022
- Original MSRP (USD)
-
$399–$649
- operating system
-
SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)
- processor
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Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
- resolve
-
1200 x 800
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