[Update #2]: Valve is also launching a free Portal-themed tech demo for the Steam Deck - Aperture Desk Job!

[Update]: It's official, the Steam Deck will be launching on February 25, 2022!

If you were hoping to get your hands on Valve's handheld gaming PC this holiday season, I'm afraid I have some bad news to deliver. Instead of launching at some point in December as previously stated, Valve has now pushed back the Steam Deck by at least two months.

"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," explains the brief update. "Based on our updated build estimates, Steam Deck will start shipping to customers February 2022."

"This will be the new start date of the reservation queue—all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly. Reservation date estimates will be updated shortly after this announcement. Again, we’re sorry we won’t be able to make our original ship date. We’ll continue working to improve reservation dates based on the new timeline, and will keep folks updated as we go."

To end all of this on a positive note, it's also worth mentioning that Valve is working on a "Steam Deck Verified" program that will make it easy to figure out which Steam games will not only run on the Steam Deck, but also play smoothly on it. You can read a little bit more about the whole initiative, as well as the Steam Deck in general, over at the official website.

Should any more delays surface I'll make sure to let you know, but hopefully this time around everything will go according to plan.