We talk an awful lot about how difficult it is to get your hands on a PS5, and don’t get me wrong, it definitely is - thanks to a brutal combination of stock shortages and scalpers, you have very little chance of actually happening upon one of these things unless you’re looking out for those stock alerts like a hawk.
That said though, the state of things with Valve’s handheld console, the Steam Deck, really isn’t any better. People have had preorders on these things down for months now, but shipments have been super slow - the first lucky lot got theirs back in February, but the rest had longer to wait, with many people only just getting their reservation emails around now. However, as reported by GamesRadar+, Valve have said that things are about to start ramping up significantly.
Take a look at the Steam Deck right here.
“Hello! Some great news on the production front. We just sent the last batch of Q2 emails, and we’ll start sending Q3 reservation emails on the 30th,” the company wrote on Twitter. “Production has picked up, and after today we'll be shipping more than double the number of Steam Decks every week! If you're expecting your email and haven't received it yet, give it some time to make its way through the internet.”
If you head over to the Steam Deck reservation page right now, having not put an order in at all, it’s estimated that shipments will happen “after Q3” (y’know, post-October), so while this might not mean a speedy delivery for anyone who’s yet to put their name down for one of these chonky bois, it does hopefully mean that those who’ve been waiting already could be expecting a knock on the door a fair bit sooner than expected.
Valve are definitely picking up the pace, anyway, so be sure to get yourself on the waiting list if you’re hoping to get one by the end of the year - you might just end up in luck. I mean, who doesn’t want to play Elden Ring on the go? Just make sure you keep that charging cable handy.