Valve’s Steam Deck has been delayed into 2022

Valve has announced that due to “global supply chain issues,” the Steam Deck won’t be here until at least February next year. 

“The launch of Steam Deck will be delayed by two months,” Valve announced in a statement released last night. “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.”

Valve went on to say that, based on their best estimates, the “Steam Deck will start shipping to customers February 2022.” Once orders start to ship, Valve will begin working through the reservation queue, so you’ll keep your place in line, as only the dates are being shifted back. 

With the past year and a half causing plenty of problems in the global electronics world, it’s hardly a surprise that companies, Valve included, are suffering and needing to adjust their shipping dates. Even companies like Sony, who boasted they had millions of chips secured, are having to cut back on their planned production numbers. 

If you’ve not heard of it until now, the Steam Deck is Valve’s entry into the handheld PC gaming space. With a 7” multi-touch display, trackpads similar to what we’ve seen on the Steam Controller, and gyroscopic controls for extra wiggly immersion and gameplay, the Steam Deck packs quite a lot into its £349 starting price tag. 

While Valve will now begin shipping the Steam Deck to those with the earliest reservations in February, new pre-orders will have to wait until at least “after Q2 2022,” so you may be in for quite a wait if you’re looking to pre-purchase the handheld PC.