Valve Launches the Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC

Valve Corporation began shipping the Steam Deck to customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union. The device marked Valve’s entry into the handheld gaming hardware market with a portable PC designed to run games from the Steam digital storefront. The Steam Deck features a 7-inch LCD touchscreen with a 1280×800 resolution and is powered by a custom AMD APU combining a Zen 2 CPU and RDNA 2 graphics architecture. The system includes built-in controls such as analog sticks, a directional pad, face buttons, shoulder buttons, and two trackpads, allowing compatibility with a wide range of PC game control schemes. It runs SteamOS 3.0, a Linux-based operating system, and supports access to users’ existing Steam game libraries. At launch, the Steam Deck was offered in three storage configurations: 64GB eMMC at $399, 256GB NVMe SSD at $529, and 512GB NVMe SSD at $649. Valve had initially planned to release the device in December 2021 but delayed shipments due to global supply chain constraints. On 25/02/2022, Valve sent order confirmation emails to customers who had previously placed reservations, with shipments beginning shortly thereafter. The Steam Deck’s release introduced a portable PC platform positioned between traditional handheld consoles and gaming laptops. Following its launch, Valve expanded availability to additional regions and introduced updated models, including an OLED version in 2023. #SteamDeck #Valve #PCGaming #HandheldGaming #2022