Valve expects the production of the Steam Deck to ramp up and says it plans to produce "hundreds of thousands" by its second month.
In an interview with IGN’s next-gen console watch (via Forbes), Valve UX designer Lawrence Yang was asked what the supply situation for the Steam Deck now looked like and revealed that: "We imagine that the launch is going to ramp in production terms. It’ll ramp very quickly," before going on to explain exactly how this will happen by adding: "In the first month we’ll be in the tens of thousands, by the second month we’ll be in the hundreds of thousands."
Assuming that March will be the first month that the Valve handheld begins shipping out, it would be safe to assume that Valve plans to up production as soon as April. Yang also explained how beyond the first few months of the Steam Deck’s release, production will "grow even quicker." So those waiting in the Q2 bracket for their Steam Deck might not be waiting for very long after all.
In the same interview, Yang also touched upon last year’s minor Steam Deck delay, explaining that: "We had to delay for supply chain reasons, those continue to be issues but we are surmounting them." Thankfully, things appear to be on track for Valve and the Steam Deck, in fact, Valve president Gabe Newell recently hand-delivered signed Steam Decks to customers in Seattle.
Just in case you were curious, it turns out that the most popular model of Steam Deck is actually the most expensive one. According to Newell, this came as a surprise to the team as he explains: "[Customers are] basically saying, 'we would like an even more expensive version of this,'" he continues, "that's why we always love to get something out there and ship it. Because we learn a lot from that, and it helps frame our thinking for Deck 2."
Wondering what games you’ll be able to play once your Steam Deck arrives? Find out how you can check if your library is Steam Deck verified ahead of time.
