Valve Confirms RAM And SSD Issues Keeping Steam Deck OLED Out of Stock

If you haven't yet, follow us on X (Twitter), Mastodon, or Bluesky to know when we post new articles, and join our Reddit or Subscribe to us on YouTube to check out our content and interact with our awesome community. Thank you for supporting us!

The tech industry as a whole is going through a rough patch. Not only is the economy reeling right now, but the AI industry is pushing up the costs of tech due to its desire to buy up RAM and storage. This has led to a lot of problems, including even getting Sony to push back the PS6 release and Nintendo to consider raising the cost of the Switch 2. However, we now have confirmation from Valve that this is also the reason the Steam Deck is currently out of stock.

In a new note on the Steam Deck purchasing page, Valve confirms that the OLED Steam Deck may be out of stock due to the RAM and SSD shortages that have come from AI's grueling campaign to buy up as much memory and storage as they can:

Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.

Steam Deck Purchasing Page

While this doesn't change anything, it is nice to get a full explanation from Valve as to why the Steam Deck OLED is out of stock and may be intermittently out of stock. It's a shame how the tech industry as a whole is reeling from the demands that these AI companies have. Companies like OpenAI are pushing to buy as much RAM and storage as they can, and companies are caving into their demands, making prices skyrocket.

This is also the reason we don't have any pricing or release date for the Steam Machine or Steam Frame just yet either, which is another bummer. Hopefully, this AI bubble will crash soon and we can get back to normal. I miss RAM and SSDs being affordable, and I am getting nervous to see how consoles and GPUs are only going to make costs skyrocket even further.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety of game reviews and news that will help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for news, tips and tutorials, game settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got you covered!