Valve add the reason for this is that it 'gives a clearer signal of intent to purchase, which gives better data to balance supply chain, inventory, and regional distribution leading up to launch.' On top of that, only one can be reserved per customer and there's a reservation fee (albeit a pretty small one of just £4 / $5). 'We are aware of potential unauthorized resellers, and as an additional safeguard to ensure a fair ordering process, we've added a requirement that the reserver has made a purchase on Steam prior to June 2021 for the first 48 hours of reservation availability,' Valve say. Reservations for the Switch-like device go live today at 10am PT / 6pm BST, and you have to be logged into an existing Steam account to grab one.

You can check out the reservations page here, and scroll to the bottom to find an FAQ where it mentions Valve's scalper-stopping plans. Importantly, fresh Steam accounts won't be allowed to reserve one until 48 hours after pre-orders go live. It looks brilliant, honestly, but if you're someone who's been paying attention to the dramas with new graphics card and console releases over the last year, you may have some worries about scalpers.įortunately, Valve seem to have anticipated this, and are putting a number of measures in place to stop pesky resellers from buying up all the new Steam Decks when reservations open later today. So, how about that Steam Deck, huh? Last night, Valve announced their foray into the world of portable gaming with a new handheld device that will let you play your PC games.

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