Reports last week that the Steam Deck is sold out in the United States prompted speculation ranging sober through to outlandish, but the actual reason is simple and you’ve likely already guessed it: like the rest of the games industry, Valve has been hit by the memory crisis.
“Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages,” Valve now acknowledges on the Steam Deck store page, confirming that the handheld’s scarcity can be blamed on the same phenomenon that has delayed the Steam Machine, jacked up RAM and SSD prices, and threatens to shutter “many electronics manufacturers”.
Even the likes of Sony and Nintendo are being hit hard: Sony is considering pushing back its next-gen console until as far as 2029, while Nintendo is considering a price increase on the Nintendo Switch 2.
At time of writing, all Steam Deck OLED models remain available in the UK and Australia.
While the Steam Machine is still on track to release in the first half of 2026, Valve hoped to announce a price and firmer release date by now. “But the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then,” Valve wrote last week. “The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).”
The crisis has everything to do with the AI industry’s greedy demand for memory, so next time you’re watching a Gemini-generated reel about a giant Norwegian Forest Cat eating live cartoon tuna while razing Manhattan you’ll know who to blame. To understand the crisis in full detail, Jacob Fox’s RAM shortage explainer is a great resource.
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