Steam Deck starts shipping on 28th February
Reservation purchases open on 25th.
Following a bit of a delay at the end of last year, Steam Deck is almost upon us, with Valve now confirming its highly anticipated portable gaming PC will begin shipping on 28th February.
Given the manufacturing constraints that continue to dog the tech industry amidst the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Valve will be disseminating Steam Deck - as it confirmed when its reservations system opened last July - in waves throughout 2022 and beyond.
As such, only a limited number of Steam Decks will begin winging their way around the world come 28th February, with Valve now warning those reservation holders at the front of the queue to expect their order emails from 25th February.
Those receiving an email will have 72 hours from its receipt to make their Steam Deck purchase; anyone failing to secure their order within that time will forfeit their place in the queue, with the reservation then being released to the next person in line.
Valve says it'll be sending out more email batches after the initial wave on a weekly basis.
There has, of course, been a flurry of Steam Deck news in recent weeks as Valve prepares to launch its first units into the wild. Last week, for example, saw the company uploading its initial batch of compatibility rated games to the Steam database - with all but five of those tested proving playable (to greater or lesser degrees) on the platform - and we've also had confirmation that Easy Anti-Cheat and Dynamic Cloud Sync will be supported, the latter allowing for seamless save file transfer between PC and Steam Deck.
Valve also notes that press units will be sent out soon, so expect initial preview coverage and impressions of the highly anticipated machine to emerge online in the near future.