Given the remarkable growth of the gaming industry amid the pandemic, it was only a matter of time before a new challenger enters the arena. Valve shook up the scene in 2021 when it announced the Steam Deck – a versatile handheld gaming computer. After missing its original launch date last year, it’s finally releasing on February 25, 2022.
While it does not technically outperform a dedicated gaming PC or laptop, the Steam Deck can run a substantial number of popular games. The only caveat here is that it only supports titles available on the digital distribution service.
As of this writing, people already know that not every game in the library will work on the Steam Deck. Still, the fact that future updates will eventually enable more compatibility, makes it an attractive purchase.
“On February 25th, we will be sending out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders,” reads Valve’s official blog post. “Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue.”
Deliveries are likely to arrive by the 28th. They will continue the same process week after week after that. Valve also confirm that retail versions of the Steam Deck will ship out to the press soon. As with any major product launch, they plan to lift the review embargo on February 25 as well.
The entry-level version packs 64 GB of eMMC internal storage, while the 256 GB and 512 GB options use NVMe technology. It uses a custom AMD-built accelerated processing unit (APU). All Steam Deck units pack 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM. Have you preordered yours?
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Images courtesy of Valve
