It has taken years for an official release, but Aussies are about to see Valve’s Steam Deck arrive in not one, but two colours.
Years of waiting and grey imports later, one of the innovators behind the portable handheld gaming PC with a screen is finally ready to launch in Australia.
It’s been an interesting few years since the Steam Deck launched back in February 2022, seeing release in the US but missing Australia and forcing keen customers to import or buy from the local equivalent.
But all that waiting appears to have paid off, and the Steam Deck’s local arrival is imminent, arriving in both a $649 LCD equivalent, plus an OLED option starting from $899 for 512GB and $1049 for 1TB.
The competition will be interesting, what with the obvious contenders in the Asus ROG Ally and ROG Ally X, as well as equivalents from Lenovo, MSI, and Ayaneo, all of which come in at higher price points with support for Windows.
The Steam Deck is a little bit different, running a variant of Linux custom configured specifically for Valve’s Steam gaming platform, but that price may well draw people in, as could the colour options, which will see both black and a special white edition at launch for the OLED model.
Valve’s handheld also comes with a case, something that’s a bit of an optional extra on the competition, with the white OLED Steam Deck coming with a colour-matched white case, as well.
However, it’s a variant Valve notes will be limited, heading to Australia and the rest of the world, but in limited quantities everywhere.
Regardless of colour, the Steam Deck will launch in Australia on November 19, available in black in both LCD and OLED options, while the limited white model will be the 1TB OLED model only for $1099, an extra $50 for the change in colour.
