Valve has delayed Steam Deck into next year

Valve has delayed the launch of Steam Deck by two months to February 2022.

In a statement published on Wednesday, the company said the slip was due to global supply chain issues. “… due to material shortages, components aren’t reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates,” it said.

February 2022 will now be the new start date of the reservation queue—all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly, Valve said. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly.

“Again, we’re sorry we won’t be able to make our original ship date. We’ll continue working to improve reservation dates based on the new timeline, and will keep folks updated as we go.”

Announced in July, Steam Deck is described as “a powerful all-in-one portable PC” capable of running the latest AAA games.

Steam Deck runs the latest version of Valve’s SteamOS software – which is based on Linux – allowing players to access their Steam games library and all the platform’s features.

However, Valve insists Steam Deck is also an open PC with the ability to install any software or connect with any hardware.

Steam Deck features a “powerful, custom APU” developed with AMD, a 7-inch touch screen, full-sized controls with gyro and trackpads, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microSD expansion slot and a USB-C port.

Developers started receiving Steam Deck dev kits and giving their initial impressions in late September.