If you were among the first to pre-order the Steam Deck, keep an eye on your email inbox. On Feb. 25, Valve will send out the first batch of emails to reservation holders that'll let them complete their purchase for the PC gaming handheld.
If you don’t confirm your order, you may lose your spot. "Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue,” the company wrote in a Wednesday blog post.
Valve then plans on sending out the first Steam Deck units three days later on Feb. 28. After that, more units will ship out on a weekly basis.
On Feb. 25, order invites will be sent "shortly after 10:00 a.m." Pacific Time. Emails will be sent in the same order as the reservations were initially made. "You can only order the Steam Deck model that you originally reserved," Valve said.
Valve says Feb. 25 will technically mark the official launch day for the Steam Deck, even though the product won’t be available in stores. Instead, the company has only been selling it through the Steam store via a reservation system.
The other notable announcement is that Valve is gearing up to send out Steam Deck review units to the gaming press. “Press review embargo on Steam Deck coverage will lift on February 25th, but keep an eye out for some preview coverage and impressions before that,” it said.
For latecomers, if you try to pre-order a Steam Deck today, expect a considerable wait. Valve’s website shows recent orders won’t be fulfilled until sometime after Q2 2022 for all versions of the handheld—64GB ($399), 256GB ($529), and 512GB ($649).
Valve first announced the Steam Deck in July and started shipping developer editions to game creators in September. A consumer release was supposed to happen in December ahead of the holidays, but "global supply chain issues" delayed that release by two months.