In a recent turn of events, Valve has just announced that their highly anticipated portable gaming device, the Steam Deck, has been delayed. Those that have been waiting to get their hands on this impressive piece of tech for the holidays will have to wait longer than expected.
In a news post over on Valve’s official storefront page, they have stated that the reason for the delay was due to supply chain issues. “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.” Shortly afterwards, they mention their new shipping window for the Steam Deck will be February 2022. “This will be the new start date of the reservation queue—all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly after this announcement.”
The news post ends with an apology for the delay and mentions that they will update their page for any new developments on shipping.
While the news of a delay is disappointing, this is not at all surprising. The current state of the world due to the global pandemic is still affecting major manufacturing companies all over the world. It’s all because of the global pandemic limiting supply lines, and those supply lines include access to very important microchips and semiconductors that are found in many modern devices including smartphones, CPUs, GPUs and even onboard touch screens for your car.
Because these microchips are now very limited, many companies have to bid and fight over distributions, which is why re-stock for other highly sought after devices such as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X continues to be rare and limited. The fact that Valve was confident enough to delay shipping of their new device by only two months is actually nothing short of impressive, but chances are that there may be another delay closer to their February 2022 shipping window.
Until either the global pandemic situation finally starts to slow down, users will have to either wait patiently or settle for a Nintendo Switch for their portable gaming fix. Of course, if you’re looking to get the OLED model, you may also have to wait patiently for that device, as well, as obtaining this new model is also proving to be very difficult for consumers this holiday season.
Valve’s Steam Deck will (hopefully) arrive by February 2022.
