Pre-orders for some Steam Decks have been delayed.

Pre-orders for some Steam Decks have been delayed.

Many Steam Deck fans are eagerly awaiting the email confirming their ability to place an order since the device was released last week. The wait for Valve's new handheld device is getting longer and longer for some people further down the line.

The order availability for some users has been pushed from "Q3 2022" to "After Q3 2022" on the Steam Deck subreddit. As for the vague "After Q2 2022," some say it has become more concrete as the year 2022 draws nearer. A backlog is building for some customers, and it appears that this is due to users ahead of them being locked into a specific release window.

Several members of the IGN staff have confirmed these claims, and their estimated availability has been revised to Q3 2022. One Redditor urged those in the "After Q3" window to remain optimistic, pointing out that the estimate is most likely an extreme case.

"This month, we expect to be selling hundreds of thousands of units a month," Valve said in a statement. "We want to sell millions of units" (April). To begin with, this indicates a strong motivation to move a large number of units. To make millions, they need to get these into stores, and to do that, they must allay the retailers' concerns "They penned a piece.

"Second, they expect to be able to transport a large number of units. If 'hundreds of thousands' of units per month can be achieved and maintained, then reservations made today will be met within a few months. As far as 'After Q3' goes, I believe Valve is simply being cautious. Still expecting my unit to arrive in Q2 even though I'm in Q3."

The COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have exacerbated supply chain issues for Valve, as they have for many other platform owners. "A lot of manufacturing and supply chain issues," CEO Gabe Newell said in an interview with IGN last week, when asked if Valve had learned anything from PS5 and Xbox Series X's launch. He said the nature of Steam Deck made comparisons to the Nintendo Switch more straightforward.

The Steam Deck was originally scheduled to be released in late 2021, but was pushed back to 2022.

Valve is still tweaking and improving the Steam Deck. A "constantly improving" platform that still has compatibility issues with various anti-cheat systems was described in our review. Valve is currently working on optimizing Elden Ring for the Steam Deck, which launched around the same time as the Steam Deck.

A tough time to launch new hardware, and Steam Deck isn't the only platform affected by the unique challenges faced by today's global economy. It's best to keep an eye on your order status and cross your fingers if you got a chance to pre-order the Steam Deck.