Steam Deck: Price, Release Date, Games, and Everything We Know

We reported on Valve's tease of a portable Steam console earlier in 2021, and now, the Half-Life developer announced Steam Deck, Steam's portable console that lets you play your Steam library from a handheld system.

Promising a seamless transition from PC gaming to handheld gaming, that comes in three models with different storage types. Valve's released a detailed overview of the new Steam console, including its specs, price, models, and more.

Here's everything we know about Steam Deck so far.

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What is Steam Deck

Steam Deck is Valve's portable console. It lets you access your entire Steam library and reportedly suffers from no fidelity issues. While Valve didn't confirm specifics about the Steam Deck's supported FPS, the product overview page said the new Steam Deck operating system optimizes everything for the "handheld experience."

On Steam Deck, your games run on a different operating system than the one on your desktop PC. It's a new version of SteamOS, built with Steam Deck in mind and optimized for a handheld gaming experience. It comes with Proton, a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run your games without any porting work needed from developers. For Deck, we're vastly improving Proton's game compatibility and support for anti-cheat solutions by working directly with the vendors

Steam Deck features on-board game pads and tracking pads, but also supports controllers the same as Steam on PC.

Furthermore, speaking with PC Gamer, Steam Deck designer Greg Coomer advised they're working on the Trusted Compatibility Module (TPM) with AMD to ensure Steam Deck's compatible with Windows 11.

Steam Deck Release Date

Steam Deck launches on February 25, 2022. However, not everyone's getting their unit immediately. Valve has confirmed that February will see them "sending out the first batch," aiming to deliver them by February 28. Who gets them then is most likely determined on a first-come-first-served basis.

Steam Deck Reservation

Reserving Steam Deck puts you in a queue based on when your reservation was logged. Once shipments begin in December, you'll get yours in the order the reservation was received. Rugfht now, availability dates are going up to Q2 2022.

There's a placeholder £4/$5 Steam Deck reservation fee right now, though the amount could change when reservations open.

What Games does Steam Deck Play?

All your Steam games will work on Steam Deck. IGN's hands-on overview of the system confirmed Steam Deck also "provides access to an unrestricted computer desktop" where you can install other launchers and non-Steam games.

Steam Deck UI

SteamOS 3 has just released, showing how it'll look on every Steam Deck. Replacing Steam's previous Big Picture mode, you can take a better look at this below:

How Much Storage does Steam Deck Have?

Storage options depend on the model you get.

Base Model

• 64 GB eMMC

Mid-Capacity Storage Model

• 256 GB NVMe SSD

High-Capacity Storge Model

• 512 GB NVMe SSD

Does Steam Deck Use microSD Cards?

Yes, regardless of which model you choose, Steam Deck comes with support for high-speed microSD cards.

How Much is Valve Steam Deck?

The Valve Steam Deck price depends on which model you buy.

Base Model

• £349/$399

Mid-Capacity Storage Model

• £459$529

High-Capacity Storge Model

• £569/$649

Steam Deck Specs

Here's what the Steam Deck is made of:

• 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
• 7 inch LCD Screen
• AMD APU
• CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
• GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
• APU power: 4-15W
• 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM
• Bluetooth 5.0
• 3.5mm stereo headphone / headset jack
• Multichannel audio via DisplayPort over USB-C, standard USB-C, or Bluetooth 5.0
• 2-8 hour battery life

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Can I Connect Steam Deck to TV?

Valve is releasing a Steam Deck Dock separately that connects to the Deck via USB-c cable and supports multiple output options. In other words, you can connect your Steam Deck to monitors and more. Unlike the Nintendo Switch however, playing in docked mode doesn't offer any performance changes.

Portable or through a TV, Valve confirmed performance remains the same. When asked about a higher power mode if docked, they told PC Gamer:

Yes, but we didn't choose to make it a really high priority design target... we felt that it was actually better all things considered to not modify based on docked status or mobile status.