The Steam Deck is officially sold out in the U.S., and it may not come back in stock until the RAM shortage clears up. While there are many handheld PC options out there today, the one that popularized the platform has remained one of gamers’ favorites, though it can be tricky for fans to get their hands on one right now. It seems even the Steam Deck is not immune to the memory and storage supply crisis sweeping across the hardware market.
Times are changing over at Valve as the company gears up to break into the broader console space and phases out some of its older tech. At the end of 2025, Valve announced it was discontinuing the Steam Deck LCD model, leaving fans with only the pricier OLED options to choose from. Uncertainty around the upcoming console-PC hybrid, the Steam Machine, has also grown, as the manufacturer confirmed it wouldn’t subsidize its price and costs rise across the board. Now, PC gamers face another blow as the Steam Deck’s future availability comes into question.
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Valve Confirms the Steam Deck is Sold Out Due to Memory and Storage Shortages
Fans had recently noticed that the Steam Deck was sold out in the U.S. and speculated if the AI-driven RAM shortage had something to do with it, and now Valve has confirmed that is indeed the case. Its U.S. storefront now has a note under the Steam Deck models, all of which are currently marked as out of stock, saying the OLED versions may be unavailable “intermittently in some regions” because of ongoing memory and storage shortages. Because Valve stopped production on the LCD model, this also means the cheaper option is officially gone for good outside the secondhand market.
Valve didn’t offer any timeline for when fans can expect Steam Deck supplies to refresh, and that’s for good reason. The company likely doesn’t know this information itself, given how volatile the memory market has been in the past several months. As more RAM manufacturers have shifted production toward AI data centers, the subsequent supply strain has thrown prices in other segments into a frenzy. Nearly every major hardware brand has commented on the matter to some extent, and this isn’t the first time Valve has felt the effects, either. Earlier in February, the company delayed the Steam Deck’s price and release date reveal because these market conditions have made it difficult to determine a feasible price point and schedule.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
The Steam Deck’s supply shortage comes amid other reports of delays and potential price hikes. A recent analysis of the electronics market claimed that Sony is considering delaying the PS6 to 2028 or 2029 to avoid the worst effects of the RAM crisis. That same report also stated Nintendo is considering raising the Switch 2’s price within the year, despite the company previously saying it had no plans to do so anytime soon. It’s a frustrating time for gamers looking forward to new hardware, and those frustrations are compounded by the fact that it’s hard to say when things might settle.
Chipmaker Micron has stated the RAM shortage could persist past 2026, as it takes time to scale up manufacturing to meet current demand. Even when more memory and storage components start coming out, it’s uncertain how long it will take for prices to respond or how quickly console production will catch up, given the state of today’s backlogs. There are too many factors at play to say anything more concrete than prices may rise and availability may fall in the immediate future, so anyone hoping to grab a new Steam Deck should keep their eyes peeled and be prepared to wait.
- Brand
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Steam (Valve)
- Original Release Date
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February 25, 2022
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$399–$649
- Operating System
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SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)
- Processor
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Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
- Resolution
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1200 x 800
