In recent years, pre-ordering sought-after items such as games consoles, graphics cards and even trainers has become a trial in heartache and frustration. Unfortunately, the Steam Deck is no exception.
Like many others, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the opening of pre-orders for Valve’s Steam Deck. Now, almost two hours later I’ve finally managed to pre-order my device. But to get to this point there were a variety of website crashes, glitches and even some tears.
Initially many, myself included, were unable to actually add the console to their basket. This wasn’t helped by an unresponsive website and what appeared to be broken buttons. Eventually, I was able to get one added to my basket. However, this was only a taste of the horrors that awaited me. Those who made it to their baskets were now hit with a myriad of errors. This would range from payment methods timing out, accounts being too new and even an alert stating users had made too many purchases over the last few hours.
While Valve should be praised for their attempts to stop scalpers snapping up all the pre-orders. They have introduced a number of conditions on placing a Steam Deck pre-order. Including insisting on users to have an account created before June, as well as a limit to one pre-order per account. Regardless, it’s obvious they weren’t ready for the massive surge in traffic to their site.
I have finally managed to get my pre-order, through sheer will and tenacity. Unfortunately, in that time the estimated date on availability has slipped from December 2021 to Q1 2022.
Although for those who are happy to wait, pre-orders appear to be working more reliably at the moment.
What are your thoughts on the Valve Steam Deck? Do you think it could be the start of a low-cost portable PC gaming boom, or is it destined to fade into obscurity just like its Steam Box cousins? We’d love to hear in the comments.