Hats off to honesty, as Valve just confessed that the Steam Deck OLED is out of stock thanks to RAMageddon. The clarification comes five days after I realized every version of the best gaming handheld contender was unavailable at the PC giant's storefront, and I'm not entirely sure I still believe the Steam Machine is coming this year.
In a newly added disclaimer under its handheld listings, Valve now says the "Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold out will no longer be available." Yikes.
The yet-to-be-released Steam Machine mini PC hasn't got any such clarification on its page yet, but Valve did previously reveal that its release date is impacted by the RAM shortage. The PC storefront pioneers are sticking with the line that the console rival will land early 2026, but I'm starting to think hardware releases are about to come to a standstill.
Just so we're clear on the Steam Deck itself, the OLED could continuously go out of stock throughout the year, while the cheaper 256GB LCD model is now discontinued. That's the current state of affairs on the Valve side of things, so it would be weird if the Steam Machine manages to release amidst that chaos.
The Steam Deck is far from being the only handheld affected by the AI industry's hunger for the same components. Yesterday, Bloomberg reported that Nintendo is considering Switch 2 price hikes, and even the PS6 could be delayed. I mean, you know it's bad when a console that doesn't exist is in jeopardy, almost like genAI makers have travelled to the future to shake down Sony for its lunch money (it's RAM chips on the menu, FYI).
If 2026 was going to be the year you finally upgrade your handheld to a Switch 2 or Steam Deck, or if you were finally going to spruce up your gaming PC, you have my condolences. I think I speak for the entire GamesRadar+ team when I say we've got your back, and I'll be continually figuring out ways to get you playing games on hardware without destroying your bank account.
I'll be keeping a very close eye out for price hikes from Valve, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, or any other big player in the scene. If all else fails, I can always help get your Sega Genesis up and running again in the big 26. Who needs AI upscaling when you have blast processing at home, right?
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