Will Steam Deck Become the Next Big Gaming Device?

The world of gaming continues to evolve and dominate. These days, the portable gaming device market is surging. But like all things portable, there are expected losses in quality. That’s the nature of portable technology – or was.

The Steam Deck arrives this Holiday season and it intends to make a case that times are changing. Many of the latest Steam Deck reviews are near glowing. The web is a buzz with all things Steam Deck.

But what are things we should expect from Steam Deck when it finally arrives for the general public’s consumption?

Steam Deck and Supply Chain

Let’s begin with the most depressing portion. Yeah, I like to frontload my work with the downtrodden bits, so we end on good notes.

We’ve all heard of supply chain issues now. Everything from inflation to the pandemic to floating cargo ships are cause for one of the worst global supply chain issues ever. If you’re a gamer, then you probably already understand that the chips used to make Xbox and PlayStation devices is detrimentally affected. So it stands to reason that the Steam Deck won’t make it to market when they hope it will make it to market.

According to Valve, the creator of Steam Deck, the device will be available at the end of this year. But today, if you go to the Steam Deck’s order page, you’ll see dates well into 2022. We are talking mid and late-2022. We assume processor chips to be the issue, but who knows these days? Cracks in the supply chain are affecting a diversity of items. All the same, none of those helps the current situation which is – you aren’t going to get your Steam Deck this Christmas. Instead, you might have it in hand next summer.

The availability issues will revolve around the hard drive sizes. For example, the expectation is that 64GB and 256GB units will make it to shelves by June. The 512GB unit looks more like a September arrival.

During its first hour of pre-orders, there were over 100,000 reservations. That’s insane. And it will only add to the delays.

Steam Deck Might Crush PC Gaming

So, bad news aside, here’s some seemingly fun news.

The Steam Deck may make PC gaming archaic.

Steam Decks will run on Linux and will be capable of playing all the same games as your PC. You should get access to a variety of Steam games. In fact, Steam is now rating games according to how well they work with Steam Deck.

Also, when we consider how poorly Windows 11 is performing for gamers, the Steam Deck is sure to feed on that frenzy.

The Steam Deck will have full PC capabilities on a portable device. It will no doubt rival if not surpass all portable gaming devices. And the inability to get your hands on one may help accelerate its lore.

Let’s just hope that supply chain issues resolve sooner rather than later.