Steam Deck still scheduled to launch next month

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Valve's still positive for an imminent launch

Steam Deck library
(Image credit: Future)

The Steam Deck is still on track for a February launch, Valve reaffirms.

Valve recently posted an extensive blog post detailing the latest goings on surrounding the Steam Deck as the company headed into 2022. "First and foremost, we’re on track to ship Steam Deck on time," Valve began, before adding that "global pandemic, supply issues, and shipping issues notwithstanding," it should begin shipping Steam Decks by the end of February.

Now though, Valve also announced that "work and testing" for the Steam Deck Verified program is underway. Just yesterday, Portal 2 became the first game to join the Steam Deck Verified initiative, basically meaning that Valve has performed extensive tests with the game, and determined that it operates fully as intended on the new hardware with no restrictions.

It's reassuring that we're getting these updates from Valve now, with little over a month to go until the planned launch in February next month. However, from the phrasing of Valve's announcement, it sounds like the new hardware won't be launching until the very end of February, as that's when Valve plans to get them "out the door" around then.

For what we made of Valve's new hardware when we got to play it for ourselves, you can head over to our complete Steam Deck preview for more.

Hirun Cryer
Hirun Cryer

Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.