Valve delays Steam Deck until 2022 'due to material shortages'

Supply chain issues to blame

Valve's handheld gaming device, Steam Deck, has now been delayed until 2022. In a blog post, the team at Valve apologised for the two-month delay to launch and said they did their, "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."

As the Verge reported, those who pre-ordered the Deck have also started seeing new shipping estimates. Staff at the publication who put in their orders now have their delivery estimates revised to Q1 2022, some even later on Q2 2022.

In the blog post, Valve says that, "All reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly after this announcement."

There have also been various forum posts with users saying their device is now shipping late in the second quarter of 2022.

COVID-19 has hit the supply chain for many companies hard. Sony recently cut their forecast for the number of units of PlayStation 5 they expected to produce for the fiscal year. Microsoft is in the same boat. Apple has also been hit with supply chain issues.

In the FAQ page for the Steam Deck, Valve said that, "Material shortages and delays meant that components weren't making it to our manufacturing facilities on time. Missing parts along with logistical challenges means delayed Steam Decks, so we needed to push out shipping by two months to February. We’ll continue working to improve reservation dates based on the new timeline, and will keep folks updated as we go."