Valve's Steam Deck has been hotly anticipated since it was announced in July 2021. It's essentially a portable PC, designed to play all of your Steam games effortlessly and comfortably.
Originally, the Steam Deck was to launch this December, just in time to keep everyone happy over the holiday period.
Unfortunately, Valve has announced that the Steam Deck will not begin shipping until February 2022, a delay caused by ongoing issues with the global supply chain.
Why Is the Steam Deck Delayed?
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global supply chain has been impacted. You may have noticed points when it was harder to buy some things, like toilet paper, bikes, or home tools. With people isolated at home, they began stockpiling or turning their attention to new hobbies.
These shortages also impacted the world of technology. Manufacturers were unable to produce enough chips to power all sorts of goods. Want to buy a PS5? Good luck with that. NVIDIA's RTX 3090 graphics card? You wish.
While demand is certainly high for these products, it wasn't unexpected that plenty of people would want to get their hands on them—the main issue is that manufacturers can't get enough parts to produce the goods.
It's these global supply chain issues that have hit Valve and caused it to delay the Steam Deck by two months.
Posting on the Steam blog, the company said:
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.
When Will Your Steam Deck Arrive?
Valve's Steam Deck is due to ship in batches. If you managed to pre-order one the instant they went up for sale, you would have received your handheld in December 2021. Now, it's going to be February 2022.
Everyone has been moved to the new timeline, meaning your place in line remains the same. You can see your new estimated order availability on the Steam Deck product page.
Valve says that it'll "continue working to improve reservation dates based on the new timeline".
Are You Excited About the Steam Deck?
The Steam Deck is hotly anticipated, especially if it works as well as Valve claims it will. The ability to play AAA games on the go will be amazing, and you might find yourself replacing your other tech in favor of the Steam Deck.
Let's just hope there's no more delays!