Valve Has Another Pleasant Surprise For Steam Deck Enthusiasts
Valve continues its hot streak of delivering good news to excited fans that are eagerly anticipating the delivery of their Steam Deck pre-orders. The company has now announced that production of the handheld gaming console is picking up pace, and thanks to the assembly boost, estimated shipping dates for reserved units are moving forward. First, the batch of Steam Deck consoles that was reserved for pre-orders earmarked for delivery by the end of Q3 has already been shipped.
What that means is Valve now has over a week left to prepare in advance for the shipments that have a window of October-December assigned to them. In fact, Steam has already started handling orders for the Q4 orders in September itself. If you were among the folks lining up to grab the well-received console, you should check the order dashboard on the Steam Store to see if you're among the lucky few souls that are in for an early shipment surprise.
In June 2022 Valve announced that it was going to double the shipment rate of Steam Deck units, but didn't really provide a concrete update to folks with an unfulfilled order in their kitty. Then late in July, the company divulged that it was moving ahead with the shipment window on orders slated for a "Q4 or later" slot and will instead be delivering them in Q3 instead. If you've been following the release trajectory of Steam Deck, the days of an acute supply crunch are apparently over
Good news with a sprinkling of bad forecast
Valve has already promised that all new pre-orders for the console will be shipped in the Q4 2022 slot. With the shipment schedule moving ahead with each passing quarter, one might worry that they would miss that golden email if they're not keeping up with the updates from Valve. To answer that concern, the company is offering an extended grace period so that users can take action and don't miss out even if they are a few days late.
Unfortunately, if you happen to live in the Asian market belt, not much has changed from Valve's end. The company only started accepting pre-orders for Asian countries in August 2022, but it is going to be a long wait, for sure. However, there is some hope that the easing supply chain situation might tilt the scales for fans based in Asia. Valve has also yet to sort out the sticky situation around the Steam Deck Docking Station.
The docking hub was officially delayed in June 2022, and ever since, the company hasn't provided any update on the device. However, Valve surprisingly brought the accessory to the recently concluded Tokyo Games Show, where attendees got their first real look at the accessory and shared some photos on social media, as well. Those images also unearth a nasty surprise as the gadget can be seen rocking only a single USB-C port.
One would hope that the next version will be a bit more port-inclusive.