Steam Deck pre-orders are already a mess

(Image credit: Valve)

Steam Deck pre-orders kicked off final week, and have already resulted in website crashes, order delays, and scalpers trying to ruin yet another product launch for everyone.

Final calendar week Valve announced the Steam Deck, a portable gaming PC that can run your entire Steam library of games, and began taking reservations on Fri morning. Inside a moment of the reservation system going live, many eager customers received an error message every bit thousands flocked to the website to try and go a pre-guild.

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Valve is doing pre-orders a little bit differently with the Steam Deck. Correct now customers are really only able to reserve a system by placing a $v eolith. Closer to the device's release date, which is currently an unspecified date in December, customers will exist invited to complete their buy in the order in which reservations were originally fabricated. It'due south a slightly finicky organisation merely information technology'southward been designed primarily to deter scalpers.

Unfortunately, scalpers aren't and then easily dissuade and resale sites like eBay have already been flooded with listings for the Steam Deck. The console's MSRP starts from $399 for a model with 64GB of eMMC storage and tops out at $649 for the 521GB SSD version, but resellers are attempting to flog pre-orders for as much as $ane,500.

Steam Deck eBay listings — (Image credit: eBay)

Buying an in-demand panel through a reseller is a questionable decision at the best of times but considering the unique Steam Deck reservation system it's baffling in this case.

No scalper equally of even so has a confirmed pre-club. Similar every legitimate customer, they accept only put down a $5 deposit. Some listings on resale sites feature scalpers making completely unsubstantiated claims such as "will arrive in time for the holidays," which they tin can't possibly guarantee yet.

In fact, getting hold of a Steam Deck before 2022 looks similar it volition be a very tall gild. While the first moving ridge of reservations offered the adventure to buy a machine in Q4 2021, the Steam Deck reservation folio now lists expected order availability equally Q2 2022 for the 64GB and 256GB models. Whereas the summit-tier 512GB isn't currently fix to be bachelor for new orders until Q3 2022.

Steam Deck pre-orders — (Prototype credit: Valve)

Demand for this portable gaming PC is clearly outstripping supply. The ongoing global semiconductor supply crisis and the greater interest in at-home amusement will likely both be a gene.

Anyone who was fortunate enough to get a kickoff wave reservation should wait to be sent an order invitation in December. Simply anyone who missed the initial window getting concur of a Steam Deck earlier 2022 will likely require paying an extortionate fee to a scalper. The Steam Deck looks prepare to join the PS5 and Xbox Series X every bit tech products that anybody wants but very few actually manage to buy.

While getting your hands on a Steam Deck might be catchy, that might non be a bad thing. Considering Valve'south spotty hardware tape it might be worth adopting a expect-and-see approach before committing to purchase. Though there are already early signs that it could exist an impressive fleck of kit, plus Valve has promised the organization won't suffer from stick-drift which is a huge relief.

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Rory is a staff writer at Tom's Guide based in the UK. He covers a wide range of topics including tech news, deals, gaming, streaming and more than. When he'south not writing hot takes on the latest gaming hardware and streaming shows, he can be found watching a borderline unhealthy amount of movies and being thoroughly disappointed by his terrible football team.