Valve today announced that prospective Steam Deck customers no longer need to wait in line to get their hands on one. At the same time, the much-awaited official Docking Station of the Steam Deck is now available too, and that"s also without a reservation queue.
Valve began its reservation program last year with a $5 fee for joining it, and while the handheld PC finally started shipping earlier this year, the wait list remained due to "supply chain issues and component shortages."
According to Valve, the rate of reservations has continued to grow, but its work on increasing manufacturing volume and solving logistical issues has paid off, finally letting the company meet the massive demand.
However, this is only describing the current market situation in specific regions. The company says that if the rate of orders suddenly grows beyond what it can handle, the reservation queue will be opened again till it can catch up. It won"t be that surprising to see this happen when the holiday season starts.
For those looking to expand the Steam Deck"s peripheral connectivity, and maybe power multiple external displays, Valve"s official Docking Station is now available with a $89.99 price tag. It has a USB-C port for power, three USB-A 3.1 Gen1 ports, as well as DisplayPort, HDMI, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.
The company added that its work on compatibility for the Docking Station on SteamOS should help third party dock and hub solutions work better with the handheld too. As the device"s popularity grows, Valve recently announced official mail-in service centers for repairs.