Steam Deck's 'production has outperformed' Valve estimates, so it's shipping units out early

Steam Deck on a purple background.
(Image credit: Valve)

Anyone expecting to see their Steam Deck later this year could be in for a pleasant surprise. Some folks with Q4 reservations should be getting emails to complete their Steam Deck orders way earlier than anticipated since "production has outperformed" estimates, according to Valve. 

"Hi all, a few of you may have received an order email for your “Q4 window” Steam Deck reservation today", wrote Lawrence Yang from Valve on Twitter.  "This wasn’t a mistake! Production has outperformed our estimates, and we’ll be moving more Q4 folks into the Q3 window. 

Valve has been ramping up production, nearly doubling the number of Steam Decks shipped out every week. That's all coming from Yang's personal account, but the Deck developer says an official announcement with more information, will be coming soon.

This still comes as a bit of a surprise since we are still in the middle of Q3 Steam Deck shipments, and at this rate, this hopefully means anyone could order a Steam Deck this holiday season and not have to wait months for one. This news also comes as the Steam Deck becomes available in other parts of the globe, too.

As with previous reservation emails, there's a grace period of a few days for you to complete the order for your Steam Deck. So make sure you check your spam folders for the email, and if you have any issues head to Steam Deck support. 

Yang also notes that the reservation windows have not been updated on the Steam Deck product page, so it may say your shipping date is still in the "Q4 window." 

This should be updated before the next batch of emails goes out on Thursday, so you'll get a more accurate time frame of when you can have a Deck in your hands. 

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Jorge Jimenez
Hardware writer, Human Pop-Tart

Jorge is a hardware writer from the enchanted lands of New Jersey. When he's not filling the office with the smell of Pop-Tarts, he's reviewing all sorts of gaming hardware, from laptops with the latest mobile GPUs to gaming chairs with built-in back massagers. He's been covering games and tech for over ten years and has written for Dualshockers, WCCFtech, Tom's Guide, and a bunch of other places on the world wide web. 

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