The grim reaper comes for us all eventually, and if you were looking to buy a Steam Deck directly from Valve at any point this week, you might get the impression it's swung its scythe for the handheld gaming machine.
All models of the Steam Deck are currently out of stock on Steam in the US, which isn't an unprecedented situation but is the first time that's been true for quite a while. We actually knew to expect this in the case of LCD versions of the Deck, since Valve said in late 2025 that it was discontinuing the model in favour of the OLED variant.
Still, that OLED version is also out of stock, which means you're going to have to head to other retailers for now (unless you're here in the UK, where stock is still available) – but it might also be an indication of the market forces that have been messing up Valve's other hardware plans recently.
It's not long at all since it confirmed that launch timings and pricing for the forthcoming Steam Machine and Steam Frame are both up in the air because of the crazy fluctuations in memory pricing this year. There's no official confirmation that this shortage of Steam Deck stock is down to similar pressures, but it wouldn't exactly be a big surprise if so.
Of course, while stock shortages are undoubtedly inconvenient, this all raises a slightly scary prospect for those who want a Steam Deck soon. Valve all but stated that the Steam Machine might end up more expensive because of the memory market, so who's to say the Steam Deck won't get a price hike at some point for the same reason?
After all, it's been proven throughout the computing market in recent months that manufacturers can only bear so much in terms of rising costs before these get passed on to customers.
I'm not the only person surprised that Nintendo hasn't hinted at price rises for the Switch 2, for instance, but even before the memory crisis it was noticeable that the PS5 and Xbox Series X have basically never become cheap in the manner of bygone console generations.
So, it's not that hyperbolic to speculate whether this is the end of the Steam Deck as we know it. What looked at times like one of the best deals in gaming in performance-per-pound terms might have to become pricier to survive.
