For those of you who’ve watched longingly (…or jealously) as a lucky few get to play around with their fancy new one steam decks, well, I have good news. Valve has announced that it will begin sending out reservation emails for the Q3 Steam Deck later this week. And it has also been confirmed that actual shipments of the devices are increasing. So if you’ve ordered one, it may arrive earlier than originally expected.
This morning on TwitterValve confirmed that it had sent out the final reservation emails for the Q2 Steam Deck and revealed that the company plans to start sending out Q3 emails on June 30th. For potential deck buyers who have been patiently waiting, Valve explained that Production on the portable PCs has ramped upallowing twice as many Steam decks to be shipped to customers per week in Q3.
Long story short, quite a few people will likely get a Steam deck in the mail over the next few weeks, although that probably won’t be the case delivered by Valve’s own gift Newell.
If you’re wondering what all that email frenzy is about, when Valve announced its Steam deck last year, it knew demand for the portable PC gaming engine would far exceed its immediate production capacity. So it created a reservation system where people could pay Valve a $5 registration fee to be put in a queue. Then, when Valve made devices, it could send one of those coveted emails to people waiting in line to see if they wanted to make a purchase.
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Remember, once you receive the email, you only have three days to claim your reserved Steam deck. Well, about three days. Valve tweeted that people who miss the email can contact support about a possible extension as there is a grace period of unknown length. Having said that, I’d suggest keeping an eye on the email and not overlooking this email if you really want a Steam deck as we don’t know how long the grace period is.
For people like me who are in the After Q3 camp, this news is bittersweet. I’m glad Valve is ramping up production and shipping of the devices, and I’m glad people are getting them. But in the meantime my fiancee keeps asking me about the Steam Deck and I stick with it Sharing not great news. At least today I have some better than bad news to share!
Oh, and if you’re getting a Steam deck anytime soon, be careful when you mod it. Valve warns that you can damage the device by installing a larger SSD, for example, which is said to reduce the overall lifespan of the deck.
