Steam Deck goes on sale February 25 — what you need to know

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It won't be long before the Steam Deck finally arrives

Valve Steam Deck
(Image credit: Valve)

Update: Valve is working hard to ramp up Steam Deck production, so hopefully you shouldn't have to wait too long for your reservation to arrive

The Steam Deck will go on sale starting on February 25, announced Valve in a blog post. On that date, those who reserved the handheld will be notified via email and have three days to place their orders. New batches of the device will release on a weekly basis afterward.

“On February 25th, we will be sending out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders,” says Valve. “Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue. The first units will be on their way to customers starting the 28th, and we plan to release new order email batches on a weekly cadence.”

Valve will start sending invites shortly after 10 am PST on February 25. Emails will be sent in the same order that reservations were made. The company says that folks can only order the Steam Deck model they originally reserved and that reservation deposits will be applied to the final price of the Steam Deck – shipping costs included.

Steam Deck rotating GIF

(Image credit: Valve)

The post also says that Valve will soon begin sending out review units and that the review embargo lifts on Feb. 25. The company also said it is working to “tie up the last few loose ends and polish some rough edges,” before the Steam Deck officially launches.

This is great news for those (like myself) who reserved the Steam Deck late last year and were disappointed that the handheld would be delayed. If you recall, units were originally supposed to start shipping as early as December of last year. The company recently said it was on track to ship units during the new time window and it now seems it will make good on that promise.

Expect a full Steam Deck review from us in February. At the very least, developers have been left surprised with how well their games have been running on the handheld. Epic Games less so, with the publisher confirming that it will not bring Fortnite to Steam Deck. In the meantime, be sure to head over to our Steam Deck hub to find the latest information we’ve gathered on Valve’s powerful handheld PC. A list of compatible Steam games was recently unveiled, so make to see if your favorite PC games will be playable on the device.

Tony Polanco
Tony Polanco
Senior Computing Writer

Tony is a computing writer at Tom’s Guide covering laptops, tablets, Windows, and iOS. During his off-hours, Tony enjoys reading comic books, playing video games, reading speculative fiction novels, and spending too much time on X/Twitter. His non-nerdy pursuits involve attending Hard Rock/Heavy Metal concerts and going to NYC bars with friends and colleagues. His work has appeared in publications such as Laptop Mag, PC Mag, and various independent gaming sites.