Valve shows off the Steam Deck’s low-key packaging
Valve now has near-final dev kit Steam Decks to send out to developers.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Most PC gamers who ordered aSteam Deckwon’t actually be getting one until mid- or even late-2022, but Valve’s making it a bit easier to imagine cradling one in your hands. In ashort posttoday, Valve showed off a “sneak peek of the final packaging” that will ship out with Steam Decks beginning next February.
On the outside it’s about as nondescript as cardboard packaging gets, though you can spot a Portal Companion Cube among the iconography if you zoom in. The inside packaging, meanwhile, tells you all the places you’ll be able to play games with the Steam Deck in a variety of languages. “On the toilet” is, conspicuously, one of the first options.
Underneath a setup instructions card is the Steam Deck itself nestled in a carrying case, though Valve’s caption notes that it’s the case for the 64GB and 256GB models. The most expensive 512GB Steam Deck model, which comes with an anti-glare etched glass screen, also gets a special case not pictured here.
The pictured Steam Deck looks the same as the oneI used at Valve’s officesback in August, but it’s actually a newer iteration with some small tweaks. “We’ve recently completed our DV (Design Validation) manufacturing build of Steam Deck, and we’ll be using these units for additional testing and developer kits,” the post says. “DV is the final prototype build before production, and it includes improvements from the EV2 build. After this build, there will be additional minor changes in the final product.”
In an FAQ earlier this week Valve made the point thatthere will be no Steam Deck exclusive games, while also noting some of the improvements it’s made since those EV2 units. “Issues like the sticky B button some developers have reported have been addressed and won’t be an issue for customers,” the FAQ says.
Today’s post says that Steam Deck dev kits will begin going out to developers “very soon.”
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
Wes has been covering games and hardware for more than 10 years, first at tech sites likeThe WirecutterandTestedbefore joining the PC Gamer team in 2014. Wes plays a little bit of everything, but he’ll always jump at the chance to cover emulation and Japanese games.
When he’s not obsessively optimizing and re-optimizing a tangle of conveyor belts in Satisfactory (it’s really becoming a problem), he’s probably playing a 20-year-old Final Fantasy or some opaque ASCII roguelike. With a focus on writing and editing features, he seeks out personal stories and in-depth histories from the corners of PC gaming and its niche communities. 50% pizza by volume (deep dish, to be specific).
Horizon Zero Dawn’s fresh remaster is the best way to enjoy the game, even on handheld gaming PCs
AMD’s top Ryzen AI mobile chip featuring Zen 5 and a juiced GPU is headed to a handheld gaming PC next month
Co-op survival game Icarus is celebrating 153 consecutive weekly updates by giving you a flamethrower and a free weekend
