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Some Steam Deck Pre-Orders Are Being Delayed

In the wake of Steam Deck's release last week, many fans are waiting anxiously for the email giving them the greenlight to order a unit of their own. Meanwhile, some further down the line are finding that they will have to wait still longer for Valve's new handheld unit.


Over on the Steam Deck subreddit, some users are reporting that their order availability has been pushed from "Q3 2022" to "After Q3 2022." Others report that their previously nebulous "After Q2 2022" is now a firmer "Q3 2022," while some say they went from "After Q2" to "After Q3." It seems that some customers are getting pushed back as other users further ahead of them are locked into a release window.

These reports are corroborated by the experiences of the IGN staff, some of whom have also had their estimated availability updated to Q3 2022 as well. One Reddit user encouraged users sitting in the "After Q3" window to not get discouraged, saying that the estimate is likely a worst case scenario.


"Valve has said: 'we want to sell millions of units' and 'we expect to be selling hundreds of thousands of units per month' by next month (April). First this means they have the desire to move a lot of units. To sell millions they've got to get these to retailers and before they can do that they have to satisfy all their reservations," they wrote.

"Secondly, they expect they will have the ability to move a lot units. If they are indeed able to attain and maintain 'hundreds of thousands' of units per month then reservations as of today will be satisfied in just a few months. I think Valve is just being careful with 'After Q3.' I'm now Q3 but I still expect my unit to arrive in Q2."

Like many platform holders, Valve has grappled with supply chain issues, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Asked whether Valve learned anything from the launch of PS5 and Xbox Series X during an interview with IGN last week, CEO Gabe Newell said that they likely shared "a lot of manufacturing and supply chain issues," though he said the nature of Steam Deck meant that it was easier to draw comparisons with the Nintendo Switch.

The Steam Deck was previously delayed into 2022 after initially anticipating a late 2021 release.

The Steam Deck itself remains something of a work-in-progress for Valve. In our review, we described it as a "constantly improving" platform that nevertheless struggles with compatibility issues with various anti-cheat systems. Elden Ring, which launched at roughly the same time as the Steam Deck, is among the games that Valve is working on optimizing for the Steam Deck.


One way or another, it's a rough time to launch new hardware, and Steam Deck is far from the only platform being affected by the unique challenges faced by the world today. If you were among those lucky enough to get in on the pre-order window for the Steam Deck, we recommend that you check in on your order status and hope for the best.

IGN reached out to Valve for comment and will update this story if there is a response.


Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN

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