If You Missed The Steam Deck At Launch, There's Good News

Since its Feb. 25 launch, the Steam Deck has racked up some pretty impressive critical reviews. The unique handheld PC has been highly anticipated by gamers since it was announced, especially since delays pushed back its launch by a few months. On top of the long wait, some production delays have made some Steam Deck hopefuls still unsure of when they'll get their hands on the portable.

While the console is by no means perfect, Valve's bold claims about its performance seem to be holding up. And though Valve's lofty goal of making every Steam game compatible with the handheld is far from accomplished, the console still has an impressive list of compatible games that includes titles as varied as "Hades," "Horizon: Zero Dawn," "NBA 2K22," and many more.

In a launch-day Q&A on IGN's Next-Gen Console Watch show, Valve designer Lawrence Yang sat down with Daemon Hatfield and Ryan McCaffrey to share some insider info on the Steam Deck. And to make a long story short, fans who missed the Steam Deck at launch can rest assured they haven't been forgotten.

As Yang shared with Hatfield, McCaffrey, and the tens of thousands of fans who tuned into the interview, Steam Deck production is on the up and up. Yang was transparent about the fact that Valve "had to delay for supply chain reasons," but that Valve is finally "surmounting" these problems. What's most reassuring is the data he shared: "in the first month, very quickly we'll be in the tens of thousands [of units]. By the second month, we'll be in the hundreds of thousands, and beyond that, it'll grow even quicker."

As for the folks who snagged Steam Deck reservations with the current "after Q2 2022" delivery estimate, Yang confirmed that Valve will be "updating those dates for folks that are in that window as we go." While Yang didn't answer a question about the number of reservations placed to date, he did give a nod to the fact that the team is "really happy" and "super excited" by the reservation numbers for the Steam Deck. Not knowing how exactly the production numbers align with reservation numbers leaves a few things up in the air, though it's still reason for Steam Deck hopefuls to believe they'll see the console sooner rather than later.

In other news, Yang confirmed that the Steam Deck will eventually branch out to other colors and that the planned console dock is still a work-in-progress likely set to ship Spring 2022. He also mentioned Valve's continued efforts to work with developers of a number of popular games and "try and get them supported on Deck."