Valve more than doubles Steam Deck shipments

[Shawn Knight]

In a nutshell: Valve back in April promised it would be ramping up Steam Deck shipments this quarter and based on the latest communications from the gaming company, it seems as though its efforts are paying off. You'll still have to wait a long time if you are just now getting in line, but those already in the queue might get their coveted order e-mail a bit earlier.

On its official Twitter channel for the Steam Deck, Valve said it just sent out the last batch of Q2 reservation e-mails to prospective buyers and that the first wave of Q3 messages will be going out on June 30.

Hello! Some great news on the production front. We just sent the last batch of Q2 emails, and we'll start sending Q3 reservation emails on the 30th.
Production has picked up, and after today we'll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week! pic.twitter.com/kAHE0zRrV7

— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) June 27, 2022

Valve added that production has picked up and that after today, they'll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week. Attempting to further clarify the message, Valve staffer Lawrence Yang said that in previous weeks they were shipping x units per week to customers and that starting this week, they'll be shipping out 2x units per week.

Valve planned to start shipping its new handheld in December 2021 but component shortages forced them to delay the launch by two months.

Valve's Steam Deck starts at $399 and scales up to $649 depending on your hardware configuration. Expected order availability for new reservations is currently listed as after Q3, meaning you won't be invited to place an order until October 2022 or later at the earliest.

Don't forget, the annual Steam Summer Sale is still in full swing with discounts on thousands of popular titles. Meta's Oculus Quest summer sale wrapped up yesterday but Nintendo's Big Ol' Super Sale is still going strong through July 6.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/95093-valve-more-than-doubles-steam-deck-shipments.html

 

[defaultluser]

So, its jumped-up from 2 to 5? That's positively astronomical

call me back when you can order it just like any computer system on amazon, and receive it within a week, and I''ll be impressed!

 

[Steezus]

So, its jumped-up from 2 to 5? That's positively astronomical

Yeah, I can't even think of a worse product launch than this. How is Valve this bad at manufacturing a product? You may as well just wait to order soon to be announced version 2 in a few months if you didn't get your pre-order in during the first few days.

 

[dangh]

Yeah, I can't even think of a worse product launch than this. How is Valve this bad at manufacturing a product? You may as well just wait to order soon to be announced version 2 in a few months if you didn't get your pre-order in during the first few days.

I think you missed couple of years changes on supply chains. Try to get a new console or even a new car. Availability is scarce and as long as there is a single manufacturer of will be always a bottleneck, so valve manufacturing skills have nothing to do with availability of the product. And product itself is very well made, and support as well above average. Great device for great value.

 

[Dimitriid]

So, its jumped-up from 2 to 5? That's positively astronomical

call me back when you can order it just like any computer system on amazon, and receive it within a week, and I''ll be impressed!

Hell I'd settle for just the pre-order queue system on countries other than US, Canada, UK and EU which while the list has the most heavy hitters for sales usually, this thing is cheap enough that it would actually sell pretty well (As a *main* device instead of as an accessory) in the so called 'Developing world'

 

[Steezus]

I think you missed couple of years changes on supply chains. Try to get a new console or even a new car. Availability is scarce and as long as there is a single manufacturer of will be always a bottleneck, so valve manufacturing skills have nothing to do with availability of the product. And product itself is very well made, and support as well above average. Great device for great value.

I just bought a new car early this year, an extremely popular model that I had to wait one month to get it and I can get any current gen console right now.

You had a point last year, but supply shortages aren't that bad for tech products at the moment.

I would love to hear from Valve how this launch is as bad as it is. Again, even with product launches after 2020, nothing has been this bad before and as neat as the Steam Deck is, it certainly has not been preordered by a large portion of the Steam user base. This will be a niche item for quite some time even if it proves to be very successful.

I placed my preorder in November and it is showing October at the earliest for me. That is nearly a year! It seems stupid to go through with that purchase because if Valve wants this to be a successful product, which I'm not entirely sure they do to be honest, then they need to offer a revised spec version this fall.

 

[defaultluser]

I placed my preorder in November and it is showing October at the earliest for me. That is nearly a year! It seems stupid to go through with that purchase because if Valve wants this to be a successful product, which I'm not entirely sure they do to be honest, then they need to offer a revised spec version this fall.

And that's the other issue of buying valve hardware - you may be waiting 3-5 years for that first hardware revision (assuming it comes at all - were still waiting!)

index just hit 3 years old with no sign of a hardware refresh, while other headset makers have updated several times in that period and meanwhile, a internal leak says they've abandoned vr for steam deck

https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/must...tedly-ditching-vr-to-focus-on-the-steam-deck/

given how management at valve is just like returning to high school, you can understand how hard it is to get backers for a failed project:

https://www.geekwire.com/2013/valves-company-structure-felt-lot-high-school-employee/

 

[Kotters]

It's honestly pretty incredible how people keep seeing every Valve product as horrible, bad, disastrous, or otherwise a ****up.

Every piece of Valve hardware has been successful and loved by its purchasers, is still supported, and for those still in production, constantly selling out. No one should delude themselves into thinking the Index or the Deck could be mainstream devices, if only they produced them like iPhones. Even the PS5 and Xbox Series were stupidly difficult to purchase for quite some time, and those were produced by some of the most experienced hardware companies in the world.

I certainly wish there was more supply, but the outrage in the comments seems more appropriate for console wars and clickbait than discussion.

 

[Puiu]

Yeah, I can't even think of a worse product launch than this. How is Valve this bad at manufacturing a product? You may as well just wait to order soon to be announced version 2 in a few months if you didn't get your pre-order in during the first few days.

The product launch went much better than anyone expected.

 

[dangh]

I just bought a new car early this year, an extremely popular model that I had to wait one month to get it and I can get any current gen console right now.

You had a point last year, but supply shortages aren't that bad for tech products at the moment.

I would love to hear from Valve how this launch is as bad as it is. Again, even with product launches after 2020, nothing has been this bad before and as neat as the Steam Deck is, it certainly has not been preordered by a large portion of the Steam user base. This will be a niche item for quite some time even if it proves to be very successful.

I placed my preorder in November and it is showing October at the earliest for me. That is nearly a year! It seems stupid to go through with that purchase because if Valve wants this to be a successful product, which I'm not entirely sure they do to be honest, then they need to offer a revised spec version this fall.

I got new console as well, but many of my colleagues did not. The fact you had a breakfast do not mean there is no hunger in the world. Arguments 'it works for me' is one of the worst arguments ever

I have ordered a new car (very popular SUV from company which selling most cars in my place), which will be delivered in 6 months. I have no idea what will happen in 6 months, but yeah... need to wait. Already got information that if this wont be delivered this year, next year we will see 3.5k price increase anyway.

Steam Deck launch was very much hindered by worst semiconductor shortage we had in many years, if not decades. And as well it is a niche product, where demand could not be determined, and success not granted which probably was as well a reason the initial planning was rather humble.
Again, nothing indicates Valve inability to manufacture goods. They made a good product, they handled the scalpers wonderfully, they delivered what was promised. And with semiconductors industry getting bit better they increase production as soon as they get chips to put into. So yeah, as you said - supply shortages aren't so bad RIGHT NOW, but it takes time before this will spread around. Big manufacturers still have priority over Valve, but this exact article is proof of change.

 

[Steezus]

I got new console as well, but many of my colleagues did not. The fact you had a breakfast do not mean there is no hunger in the world. Arguments 'it works for me' is one of the worst arguments ever

I have ordered a new car (very popular SUV from company which selling most cars in my place), which will be delivered in 6 months. I have no idea what will happen in 6 months, but yeah... need to wait. Already got information that if this wont be delivered this year, next year we will see 3.5k price increase anyway.

Steam Deck launch was very much hindered by worst semiconductor shortage we had in many years, if not decades. And as well it is a niche product, where demand could not be determined, and success not granted which probably was as well a reason the initial planning was rather humble.
Again, nothing indicates Valve inability to manufacture goods. They made a good product, they handled the scalpers wonderfully, they delivered what was promised. And with semiconductors industry getting bit better they increase production as soon as they get chips to put into. So yeah, as you said - supply shortages aren't so bad RIGHT NOW, but it takes time before this will spread around. Big manufacturers still have priority over Valve, but this exact article is proof of change.

Cars are a bad comparison. The car I recently purchased is changing from the 2022 model to the 2023 model so they cut off the supply of the old model and it takes months to get the new one going. That doesn't equate to a shortage of any kind. This is just regular business.

I would still consider the Deck launch to be the worst launch in tech history. It is actual vaporware for over a year for anyone that did not place a pre-order within days of the announcement in October.

It is absolutely insane that Valve fanboys will defend this launch, but you all just look ridiculous to everyone else. Already they ship Decks with two fan variants, one that needs replaced with a 3rd party fan to quite the noise and now they are shipping half of them with gimped SSD's because for gaming they aren't seeing a difference.

I want it to be successful, it is a great idea once they refine the hardware a bit more (OLED screen, greatly improved battery life, and a bit more power), but Valve is clearly half-assing the entire launch just like they have with all of their failed hardware. Sadly I think they just wanted to make it possible to play PC games on a handheld by releasing a proof of concept then they will let other companies make the hardware. We already see there are far superior options, but they also come with a big jump in price.