Confused on Steam Play and Proton? Be sure to check out our guide.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Steam Deck 'on track' for February, Valve hopes for millions by end of 2023

By - | Views: 29,598

Seems Valve really are expecting big things from the SteamOS 3 Linux-powered Steam Deck handheld, according to a new report from PC Gamer. Originally due to be launching this month, Valve ended up delaying it until February 2022. Due to all the worldwide shortages, many were worried about another delay but Valve appear confident in hitting that new date.

In the new report Valve sound very bullish, with designer Greg Coomer mentioning how different their shipping will be compared to traditional consoles. Valve don't need to ship masses of boxes around to traditional stores, as it's only sold in the one place - Steam.

Valve won't give out numbers but it seems they expect millions to have a Steam Deck by the end of 2023:

"We're going to have a launch that looks like a significant number of users right out of the gate, and then build that over time, rather than having the biggest splash on day one and then generally declining after that," he said. "If you extend the timeline out through 2022 and all the way to 2023, we expect to be building on our numbers constantly throughout that whole time, to the point where there's many millions of customers if things go the way we think they will, who are using Steam Deck by the end of that year or so, through 2023."

The good news is that their own production of Steam Deck units is not a bottleneck, just getting the parts is. Hopefully that will improve over the next year, as it's the same issue other hardware vendors also have.

According to Playtracker, they seem to think that somewhere around 700,000 people may have put down a deposit for a Steam Deck.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
25 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
19 comments
Page: 1/2»
  Go to:

saturnoyo Dec 17, 2021
To me it looks like the success of the Steam Deck is completely in Valve's hands.

If they keep a fair price, promote the console and maintain the OS and the hardware properly it will be a huge success. It's not like there is much competition and there is absolutely no company that can provide what they can (being the owners of the biggest (by far) gaming store and all that).

But it's Valve, their attention span is almost as bad as Google's and they seem to believe that their products need no promotion, for some reason.

Let's keep in mind that Steam OS has been in a pretty poor state for a long time, Half Life Alyx came out almost 2 years ago and we haven't heard from them about VR games since then (although everything points to them being in the middle of the development of a new game but they are always in the middle of something that never gets released) and their controller was discontinued, probably because of the mixed reception it got. On the other hand I think people are happy with the Valve Index, it's difficult to say since they don't allow reviews of it.

So... I hope they succeed but it depends on them. We'll see.
Comandante Ñoñardo Dec 17, 2021
If Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.
Eike Dec 17, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: saturnoyoOn the other hand I think people are happy with the Valve Index, it's difficult to say since they don't allow reviews of it.

I wondered what you talk about. I guess it's Steam reviews, because of course there are reviews about it out there.
Eike Dec 17, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoIf Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.

You mean, like PlayStation and Xbox?
Why?
People obviously want it. If I'd sell something and meet such an interest, I'd be happy.
Pendragon Dec 17, 2021
Woot! Glad I put down a deposit for a pre-order
Liam Dawe Dec 17, 2021
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoIf Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.
They will, they said back when it was originally announced they would expect others to follow and they've confirmed repeatedly SteamOS 3 will be released as a standalone. Any vendor will be free to make their own device but the Steam Deck is the only "official" Valve one.
Purple Library Guy Dec 17, 2021
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoIf Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.
I don't see how that works. What do they get from official clones?
Eike Dec 17, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoIf Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.
I don't see how that works. What do they get from official clones?

Obviously, Valve would get people buying games on Steam.
I don't see though how not having that would make Steam Deck a fail.
Purple Library Guy Dec 17, 2021
Quoting: Eike
Quoting: Purple Library Guy
Quoting: Comandante ÑoñardoIf Valve doesn't allow other companies from around the world to make official clones, this will be a megafail.
I don't see how that works. What do they get from official clones?

Obviously, Valve would get people buying games on Steam.
I don't see though how not having that would make Steam Deck a fail.
I mean, they can't really stop unofficial clones even if they wanted to, it's an open platform. Anyone in an appropriate industry could make a tiny PC with a controller running some kind of Linux with Steam preinstalled. But nobody not expecting to profit from the game sales could match Valve's price point, I would think, so I'd expect anyone doing it wouldn't get nearly as big results. Just seems likely to be a kind of marginal phenomenon.
Eike Dec 17, 2021
View PC info
  • Supporter Plus
Quoting: Purple Library GuyI mean, they can't really stop unofficial clones even if they wanted to, it's an open platform. Anyone in an appropriate industry could make a tiny PC with a controller running some kind of Linux with Steam preinstalled. But nobody not expecting to profit from the game sales could match Valve's price point, I would think, so I'd expect anyone doing it wouldn't get nearly as big results. Just seems likely to be a kind of marginal phenomenon.

I'm not sure about the "Steam preinstalled" part - which would be important - without Valve's agreement. But as they did agree...
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.