Steam Deck Release Date Announced

Steam Deck Launch Date Confirmed After Delay

After a postponement of two months, Valve has announced the official launch date for the Steam Deck as February 25th. A company blog post, released on Wednesday, detailed that initial reservation holders will be granted access to purchase the handheld device starting on that date.

Customers receiving access will have a 72-hour window to complete their purchase. Should they decline, their place in line will be offered to the next individual on the reservation list. Initial shipments are scheduled to commence on February 28th.

Future Order Availability

Valve intends to progressively open orders to a wider customer base on a weekly schedule following the initial launch. This phased approach aims to manage demand and ensure a smoother rollout.

Reasons for the Delay

Originally slated for release in late 2021, the Steam Deck faced delays due to ongoing global component shortages. Valve expressed their apologies, stating they made every effort to mitigate the impact of these supply chain disruptions.

The company explained that the timely arrival of necessary components at their manufacturing facilities was hindered, ultimately necessitating the postponement of the original launch dates.

Pricing and Available Models

The Steam Deck will be available starting at a price of $399. This base model includes 64GB of eMMC internal storage alongside a protective carrying case.

Additional configurations will be offered, featuring 256GB and 512GB of NVMe storage, priced at $529 and $649 respectively. The highest-tier model also incorporates a premium anti-glare screen for enhanced visual clarity.

Technical Specifications

The Steam Deck is powered by a custom chipset boasting a 2.4GHz processor and a GPU equipped with eight RDNA 2 compute units. It also features 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM.

Valve asserts that this combination of hardware allows the handheld PC to run contemporary games with a “very efficient” power consumption profile.

A comprehensive review of the Steam Deck will be available on Engadget starting February 25th.

Note: This report was originally published by Engadget.