• News

Steam Deck shipment estimates slip to Q2 2022 as some people secure pre-sales

Where originally the Steam Deck was set for a December 2021 launch, the reservation pages are starting to show Q2 2022 estimated order availability.

TJ Denzer

July 16, 2021 11:20 AM

2

The Steam Deck pre-order reservations have opened, and with them comes the flood of those looking to get their hands on one. Just as any high-demand technology or trending product has proven to be within the last few years, reserving the Steam Deck is problematic for some, though. Not only is it difficult to get a pre-order through due to various account issues, but now the estimated ordered availability on Steam Deck units are seemingly slipping back beyond the originally announced December 2021 release date, as far as Q2 2022 at this time of writing.

The estimated dates of delivery were spied on the Steam Deck reservation end of the Steam website when choosing a model. Where Valve’s new handheld PC player was originally slated to start shipping in December 2021 at the time of the Steam Deck’s announcement, the listing under the 512GB model shows that estimated order availability have been set for Q2 2022 (again, at this time of writing). The 64GB and 256GB models showed an expected order availability of Q1 2022.

There were many who got pre-orders through on the Steam Deck, though many also reported issues such as accounts improperly being called too new or the order confirmation page simply freezing up. In the time since pre-orders have gone live, the buttons for beginning the reservation process on the page appear to have greyed out, likely meaning further orders and reservations are unavailable at this time.

Much like the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and NVIDIA RTX 3000 Series GPUs, it will likely not get easier to confirm an order on the Steam Deck as time passes. Nonetheless, it would seem that those hoping to get their hands on the heftier models will be waiting well past the original December 2021 shipping date of the Steam Deck. Be prepared for further delays past this point.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.