Starting today, Valve is accepting paid reservations for its recently announced Steam Deck, a powerful portable PC that invites comparison with the Nintendo Switch. But right after the pre-orders went live, Steam collapsed into server errors and other frustrating hiccups.
Starting today at 1:00 p.m. ET, Valve allowed people to deposit $ 5 to sign up for a Steam deck. Within seconds of the Steam Deck pre-orders going live, people started sharing frustrating issues and bugs on Twitter. During this time several members of Cotacus The employees also struggled to get their pre-orders through.
Of course there was expected problems with any online pre-order process, including crashing servers and infinite loading screens as people desperately tried to move through the buying process. Some customers encountered error messages indicating that they were trying to purchase too many items too quickly or, worse, could not even launch the Steam client. (This happened to me, and I’m not even trying to get a Steam deck. I just wanted to play a game.)
Other people get caught up in some of the protections Valve put in place to keep scalpers from grabbing all handheld computers. When Valve unveiled the Steam Deck yesterday, their FAQ mentioned that only people who Bought something on Steam before June 2021 can pre-order the console during the first 48 hours subject to availability. Seems to be smart, but some people including some of us here at Kotaku, have been falsely reported that their accounts were “too new” to reserve a Steam Deck today.
So yes, another hot new electronic gaming device had a terrible pre-order process. Raise your hand when you are shocked. (I don’t see any hands.)
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Announced on July 15, the Steam Deck is Valve’s Spin on a portable game console and appears to be heavily inspired by the Nintendo Switch. Players can load (some, but not all) Steam games and play on the go, or dock the device to play on a TV. The Steam Deck ships in three flavors this December, including a base 64GB eMMC priced at $ 400 and a flagship 512GB NVMe priced at $ 650.
You can try your luck by pre-ordering one over now Valve’s store page for the Stream Deck. As of 1:35 p.m. ET, many have started sharing messages on Twitter that they were finally able to complete their order. And good news here at Kotaku: All of our employees who wanted one could do it Confirm your purchase. It’s a Christmas miracle in July.
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