With the Steam Deck arriving imminently, Valve has announced that the dock for its handheld PC won’t be turning up any time soon.
In a post about the Steam Deck launch, Valve explained that come tomorrow, February 25, starting 10am PT (6pm UK time), the first batch of emails will be sent out to those who were the quickest off the mark in reserving their hardware.
Those people will then have 72 hours to complete their purchase (and if they don’t, when that time expires, their spot will be given to the next buyer in line, further down the queue).
However, the dock for the compact gaming PC – the Deck Dock, if you will – has been delayed.
Valve wrote: “We are also looking forward to getting the official Dock for Steam Deck into customers’ hands. It won’t be happening as early as we wanted, but we’re excited to talk more about it soon and are planning to make them available in late spring.”
So, late spring: presumably that means May, and the official Dock could therefore arrive three months later than the Steam Deck itself. Assuming that there isn’t any further delay, of course…
Analysis: All hands on Deck, but not Dock
Naturally, Valve has a mammoth task on its hands launching a new handheld which has turned out very popular going by pre-orders, whilst in the midst of an ongoing component shortage which doesn’t show any signs of letting up until much later in 2022. (We’re not really expecting meaningful improvements in supply woes until the second half of the year).
So, the Dock is not really going to be a priority when you consider that Valve really needs to focus on getting the actual device out there in as large numbers as possible.
The Dock will carry an array of ports allowing you to hook it up to your router with an Ethernet cable, or an external display via HDMI or DisplayPort, plus USB connectors as you’d expect. In its absence, Valve does note that a powered USB-C hub will of course work as an alternative until the official Dock comes out.
As for those waiting for a Steam Deck who know they’re near the front of the queue, best keep a close eye on your email inbox. If you’re the kind of person who checks their messages sporadically – and maybe not during a weekend, if you’re out and about, or away – then that 72-hour eligibility period could slip past without you noticing, if you aren’t careful.
Anyone ordering now, by the way, can expect to wait until after Q2, so from July onwards, before they will receive their hardware (for all models of Steam Deck).
Via The Verge