Steam Deck developers will start getting machines this week
Sš¼team Deck is so new, even developeź¦ rs haven't seen them yet
Steam Deck is the brand new handheld console from Valve. As we went hands-on with it for the first time this week, a Valve spokespeą¹rson revealed that even the developers behind the games we were šplaying are yet to get to try the machine.
"Some partners are really generous iꦔn that they haven't even seen Decks themselves," said Valve.
"The reason is we haven't had any until this week, right now. These units came in and were really getting booted up by us for the first time a couple of days ago. So we were nervous after inviting you that we wouldn't really šreceive these in time and we wouldn't have anything to show youš. They were in customs."
It's a testament to the 澳擲幸čæ5å¼å„å·ē åå²ę„询:Steam Deck that other than a feꦿw crashes, the games we got to play ran smoothly, which is a small miracle given the intricacies of PC gaming and the lack of game developer input.
"My point is there haven't been units to show outside the building so not even game developers, the deveꦰlopers of the games you're playing, have seen these devices in their own hands. Our next step is we're going to be sending hundreds of unią²ts out to game developers."
Steam Deck was announced on July 15, and a few days later the demand for pre-orders took down Steam and Valve's website. If you wereᣠlucky enough to grab one of thše first waves of units, you can expect to receive it in December.
Steam Deck will release in three flavors at the end of this year. You can read our full hands-on here.
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Rachel Weber is tź¦he former US Managing Editor of GamesRadar+ and lives in Brooklyn, New York. She joą¼ŗined GamesRadar+ in 2017, revitalizing the news coverage and building new processes and strategies for the US team.