Valve has notified customers that it is delaying the Steam Deck for two months, pushing it to February 2022.
"We're sorry about this," Valve wrote in emails to customers and on its blog. "We did our best to work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components aren't reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates."
The company said reservation updates would be updated soon. Users can check at https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck.
"All reservation holders will keep their place in line, with dates shifting back accordingly," Steam wrote in an emailed statement.
My pre-order, originally set for this December, now reads Q1 2022. Editor Michelle Ehrhardt, who had a Q1 2022 release date, saw her pre-order pushed back to Q2 2022.
We last saw the Steam Deck in August, during a hands-on with early hardware. We left with bullish impressions regarding the comfort and gaming at low-level settings. We still had questions about the dock, and we'd love to learn more about it running Windows.
In September, Valve hit a milestone, sending near-final hardware to developers to see how their games run. It also launched its @OnDeck Twitter account showing those games running, building hype for the device.
A Steamworks virtual conference regarding the Steam Deck and the AMD Van Gogh APU powering it is scheduled for November 12. The company is also working on its Proton layer to make more games compatible with its Linux-based SteamOS. Recently, Easy Anti-Cheat was updated to support the Steam, Deck and its Proton emulation layer.
The company has also detailed how to tear down the Steam Deck and replace the SSD and thumbsticks, though it suggests you don't do it yourself.
Valve was rapidly approaching the December release date prior to this announcement, so it's unclear what further information the company may release between now and February.