Valve has quietly updated its Steam Deck OLED store page with a new disclaimer, highlighting that ongoing memory and storage shortages are impacting the handheld’s availability. In short, you can expect device stock levels to intermittently disappear, probably for the foreseeable future.
Curiously, Valve claims this problem will only affect some regions, despite the global nature of SSD and RAM shortages. While there are Steam Decks available for sale in the UK and some European territories, there’s no stock across North America. “Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages,” says Valve on its website.
Outside of logistical constraints, tariffs and other factors could be at play in Valve’s allocation of Steam Deck stock. After all, there’s profitability to consider in the wake of these market forces.
At the time of writing, Valve hasn’t announced any price increases for Steam Deck. However, it wouldn’t surprise me to see the cost of a system rise at some point in the near future, given that memory costs have quadrupled in recent months and affordable storage is essentially non-existent.
These same issues have left Valve unable to confidently announce availability or pricing for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. While my initial cost estimate for the former sat at around ~£700, using the same over-the-counter components now puts pricing closer to ~£1,000.
Stock issues only affect the Steam Deck OLED, as Valve ended LCD production at the tail-end of 2025. Once Valve runs out of units for the latter design, as has already happened in some regions, including the US, the price floor for the device will rise considerably. In the UK, we’re looking at an increase from £349 to £479.
It pains me to see one of the most-affordable inroads to handheld gaming, and PC gaming as a whole, face these problems. However, the Steam Deck is just another in a growing list of tech that’s struggling to stay afloat on store shelves, to the point that I’m thankful it hasn’t gone the way of Crucial and other casualties. I do hope I’m not tempting fate.
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