Valve quietly discontinues its most affordable Steam Deck

(Image credit: Future)

If you were hoping to check out Valve's hit handheld gaming PC this Christmas without shelling out for the newer, pricier Steam Deck OLED, I've got some bad news. This week, Valve announced it's discontinuing the $399 256GB LCD Steam Deck, the original version that launched in 2022 with an LCD screen.

In a short notice on its Steam Deck page (h/t GamingOnLinux), the company confirmed it's "no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256 GB model," and that "once sold out, it will no longer be available." In whatever's the opposite of a Christmas miracle, it looks like the LCD model is already sold out, at least in the U.S. Gamers now only have the option between the Steam Deck OLED with 512GB of storage ($549) or 1TB ($649).

Valve didn't explain why it's ending production, and we've reached out for more information. If I had to wager a guess, it's likely the recent surge in RAM prices ate into the company's profit margins for the LCD model too much to justify making more. PC component prices are only expected to rise as we head into 2026, inflating the costs even further. A huge influx of demand from AI and data center companies has hoovered up available supplies of standard DRAM chips, a shortage compounded by manufacturers shifting production to make the kind of RAM that fuels cloud computing, as seen in the likes of ChatGPT and Gemini.

It's a bummer for gamers on a budget. Though the Steam Deck OLED bumped it from our best handheld gaming consoles ranking, the original Steam Deck is an absolute workhorse for the price. I got mine in 2023, and it's still chugging along nicely. To play the best PC games on the go, I tend to reach for something more powerful like the Lenovo Legion Go S with SteamOS, but it can handle some of my favorite indie games and even Baldur's Gate 3 without breaking a sweat. Handheld gaming PCs already had a reputation for being pricey, and now the cheapest option on the market is the base Asus ROG Ally, starting at $489.

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Alyse Stanley is a news editor at Tom’s Guide, overseeing weekend coverage and writing about the latest in tech, gaming, and entertainment. Before Tom’s Guide, Alyse worked as an editor for the Washington Post’s sunsetted video game section, Launcher. She previously led Gizmodo’s weekend news desk and has written game reviews and features for outlets like Polygon, Unwinnable, and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. She’s a big fan of horror movies, cartoons, and roller skating. She's also a puzzle fan and can often be found contributing to the NYT Connections coverage on Tom's Guide

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