Valve’s Steam Deck handheld delayed by chip drought that has led to PS5 and Switch shortage
The game company estimates that the Deck will start shipping to customers in February 2022
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Your support makes all the difference.Valve’s Steam Deck, its handheld gaming device, is being delayed by two months because of the chip shortage.
“We’re sorry about this — we did our best to work around the global supply chain issues, but due to material shortages, components aren’t reaching our manufacturing facilities in time for us to meet our initial launch dates,” Valve said in a blog post.
The company estimates that the Deck will start shipping to customers in February 2022, with those who reserved their gadget the soonest receiving it first.
“While we did our best to account for the global supply chain issues (by which we mean we factored in extra time to account for these risks and worked with multiple component vendors), our manufacturing plans were still impacted”, the video game company said in its FAQ.
“Material shortages and delays meant that components weren’t making it to our manufacturing facilities on time. Missing parts along with logistical challenges means delayed Steam Decks, so we needed to push out shipping”
The chip shortage has affected numerous industries, including Steam’s competitors in the gaming space such as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo – with the Japanese manufacturer of the Switch handheld warning that it would be shipping fewer machines because of the issues.
“The extended impact of both Covid-19 and the global semiconductor shortage creates a state of continued uncertainty, with the possibility of future impact on production and shipping”, Nintendo said.
The PlayStation 5 has remained in short supply over the past months, and is expected to get worse.
The company had aimed to make 16 million PlayStation 5s between April 2021 and March 2022, but now expects to only make 15 million, according to a new report. Microsoft’s supple of the Xbox Series X has been experiencing similar issues, although the company says it has shipped more consoles than it expected.
Apple, too, is reportedly expecting to sell 10 million fewer iPhone 13 models.
Overall, the shortage has hit around 169 different industries this year, including concrete mixing companies, household appliances, and car manufacturer.
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