Valve confirms what everyone feared about the Steam Deck shortage

If you were thinking about picking up a new Steam Deck, you may run into some difficulty. As we reported last week, every model of the handheld PC was sold out in several markets, including the US. Now the makers of the Steam Deck — Valve — have confirmed what we all feared.

As you may or may not have heard, we’re currently in the middle of a RAM crisis. To summarize the situation as simply as possible, the companies that make RAM are prioritizing the production of RAM for data centers, due to high demand from AI companies. As a result, RAM production for consumer-level products is being deprioritized because it’s less profitable. This has led to a RAM shortage in the consumer electronics space.

When the Steam Deck went out of stock last week — it’s still sold out in the US — Valve did not comment on the situation. This led to speculation that the RAM shortage had finally caught up to the Steam Deck. Over on Valve’s store page for the system, the company has now confirmed that RAM and storage shortages are indeed at fault.

A brief note on the page reads:

Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold out will no longer be available.

This RAM shortage is not only affecting the Steam Deck, but also Valve’s plans to release new hardware. Last November, the company announced a slate of new products it expects to release in 2026. Although Valve never offered a concrete release date or prices for this hardware, the company has admitted that the RAM shortage has forced it to revisit its shipping schedule and pricing.