Valve’s newly released Steam Deck is slowly getting into the hands of its first batch of users. It’s certain to be an exciting time for those who preordered the handheld back in July. However, there are plenty of customers who will have to wait even longer for their own Steam Deck. Valve has laid some concerns to rest, though, ensuring that the Steam Deck’s production will ramp up by April.
The Steam Deck released at an unfortunate time in the PC hardware space. Over the past year or so, a combination of issues has stunted the release of tech from across every market, from shipping troubles to a lack of supply for production to the ever-changing nature of the global pandemic. These are all things that have had huge ramifications across the gaming industry in particular. Some companies are managing to catch up, and Valve is one of them.
Your Steam Deck could come sooner than you think
Valve has managed to meet many of the pandemic’s problems head-on. Granted, the best thing that the company has done for its customers is temper expectations. From the start, people knew that it could be a while before they had the Steam Deck in their hands. That didn’t stop them from wondering when exactly they would have a Steam Deck. The only answer Valve previously gave regarding this was that customers would see their own device sometime in Q2, Q3, or Q4. It’s likely that April could mark the first big wave of Steam Deck releases, though, as productions ramps up.
A recent interview from IGN with Lawrence Yang, a Designer at Valve, shed some extra light onto when customers can expect their Steam Deck. During the interview, he stated that “supply chain reasons” originally delayed the Steam Deck. Later, he went on to discuss what the first few months of production post-launch would look like. Yang stated that, “In the first month we’ll be in the tens of thousands, by the second month we’ll be in the hundreds of thousands.”
If by March the production rate will be in the tens of thousands, then by April we could see quite a few more Steam Decks coming out the door. Valve certainly seems confident that this year will see loads of Steam Decks hit people’s doorstep, which is great to see. The bottom line here is that some people may not have to wait too much longer for the handheld. But it’s always better to lower your expectations with things like this, and with the ever-changing dynamic of the global pandemic, anything can happen.
