One year since the Steam Deck hit shelves across the world, there's still no word on if or even when the famed handheld console will come to Australia.
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The Steam Deck, Valve Corporation's foray into console development, is a handheld gaming console capable of playing Steam games - essentially a gaming PC made handheld.
It's no surprise then that on release, the Deck became hugely popular - but even on the one-year anniversary of the initial launch, there has been no official release for the Australian market.
The Steam Deck was initially launched in the United States, UK, Canada, the European Union while later, Valve made the Deck available in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.
Valve has remained tight-lipped on the reasons behind the absence in Oceania and even quieter regarding when the Steam Deck could arrive.
It hasn't stopped some from buying the machines from third-party and 'grey import' sources online, however buying internationally coded devices can mean consumers must contend with region-locking, price scalping or even fraudulent knock-offs.
Valve warned consumers of these unofficial retailers in a twitter post earlier this year.
IN OTHER NEWS:
"Steam Decks sold via any other websites or retailers are unofficial - please be careful," the Steam Deck's account read.
Even if you do get a legitimate device, ordering through a third-party is likely to harm your back pocket with the base model estimated to cost $535, while models with more memory could run up to $866.
By comparison, the $535 base model is available on Amazon at $886 (but with free delivery) while a model with 512GB of memory space is available for almost $2000.
Valve Corporation was contacted for comment.
Cai Holroyd
Full-time journalist and part-time nuisance for the Area News in Griffith. Contact me at 0447 781 540 or cai.holroyd@austcommunitymedia.com.au
