After delaying its release once, Valve is now confident that it will start shipping its Steam Deck console as early as next month.
Valve has announced that there will be no more delays for the Steam Deck and, according to a new blog post, it is about to start shipping to ordinary customers.
Shipping should begin around the end of February, despite the ongoing pandemic – which is causing endless supply and shipping issues. This is what led to the Steam Deck’s first delay, forcing it to just miss its planned Christmas launch.
Valve has also been testing its Steam Deck Verified programme, which is used to review each Steam game and see how/if they run on the portable PC. If you see a game with a verified symbol, that means it should run smoothly on Steam Deck, with little issue.
In addition, Valve has already sent out hundreds of developer kits, so developers can test out their own games for the system and ensure they run properly. All in all, barring any last-minute problems, everything seems to be on track.
It remains to be seen when the Steam Deck will be freely available for purchase. Technically, Valve never made it available for pre-order; instead, you have to register interest and then wait for Valve to email you once it has one in stock to sell you.
Considering how popular the Steam Deck already is, it’s possible you won’t be able to simply order one for a very long time. The website even says that the expected order availability isn’t until after Q2 2022, so even those who registered interest early may not receive theirs until after June.
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Essentially the PC equivalent to the Nintendo Switch, the Steam Deck will allow Steam users to play their games on the go, and even on their TV by plugging it into a special dock.
It’s rather pricy, however, with the cheapest option still setting you back £349 for 64GB of storage space. The 256GB and 512GB options are £459 and £569 respectively and you can register your interest on Valve’s website.
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