Valve has presented its own console, the Steam Deck. After pre-orders started, even Steam’s servers, which are usually quite stable, could not hold up. Apparently, the console is already more popular than expected, even though it might not come until next year.
This is the situation:
- Valve recently introduced the Steam Deck, a new handheld console.
- The Steam Deck starts at €419 – Valve CEO Gabe Newell calls the price “painful”.
- Pre-orders have been open since Friday, July 16, at 19:00 CEST.
- So many gamers wanted to pre-order the console that Steam could not process the requests and threw out numerous error messages.
What kind of console is this? The Steam Deck is a handheld console that represents something like a portable PC. At 720p, you should be able to play games that natively run on Linux or can be run there via “Proton”.
Some players refer to the Steam Deck as the “real” Nintendo Switch Pro. In terms of design, the new console indeed resembles the Switch. You have a display in the middle with controls on the right and left.
The delivery is expected to begin in December 2021, and orders should be possible from the first quarter of 2022. Pre-orders or reservations are now already possible. In our hub, you will find all important information about the Steam Deck summarized.
Reservations overwhelm Steam servers
What happened? After the pre-orders opened on July 16 at 19:00, many players apparently tried to secure a copy. This led to numerous error messages (via Polygon.com).
Both the official Steam website and the app had potential buyers facing issues completing their orders. Often, an “unexpected error” occurred, which prevented the purchase from being finalized.
Those who tried too often were even met with an error message, stating that they had “attempted too many purchases in the last few hours” and should please wait a bit. Particularly bizarre is an error message stating that some users had too young an account, even though they claimed to have been on Steam for well over 15 years:
In other cases, there were errors indicating that the order may have “succeeded” (via Twitter.com). In these cases, buyers were left in the dark about whether they had actually managed to purchase a Steam Deck or not. Sometimes, there was also just a vague: “Something went wrong”.
What is the current situation? As of Saturday, July 17 at 15:00, the servers are still “busy”. Pre-ordering is currently not possible (via steampowered.com). We cannot say if and when you can pre-order a Steam Deck again.
Update: Occasionally, it seems to work. Around 15:15, we were able to place a reservation. If you want to pre-order a Steam Deck, you should just try your luck several times.
Steam is not known for weak servers. Nevertheless, they were overwhelmed by the requests. The price of the Steam Deck has not deterred buyers either: a standard version costs €419, while the most expensive variant is priced at €679.
Valve CEO Gabe Newell calls the price “painful”, but the performance and hardware have been the focus from the beginning. The Steam Deck is apparently intended to establish itself in the long term. How long it will hold up remains to be seen, as Newell already has the future of hardware in mind:
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