Valve will finally sell the Steam Deck in Australia
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Australians will finally be able to officially buy Valve’s Steam Deck in their home country — two and a half years after the handheld gaming PC first went on sale, and a year after it arrived in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Australians have been asking for this for years — and Valve promised to make it happen way back in November 2021.
It’ll arrive this November in the same primary configurations Valve sells elsewhere: a 256GB configuration of the original LCD model, or 512GB and 1TB versions of the newer OLED model that also come with longer battery life, a better screen, and more. They’ll cost AUD $649, $899, and $1,049 respectively.
(While the OLED model does cost $250 AUD more than the original, it has so many important changes that I’d personally recommend it over the LCD version to anyone who can afford it.)
While even the OLED model will be an entire year old by the time it arrives in Australia, there’s no current indication that Valve will release a faster, better version anytime soon — and no handheld running Windows can currently match it for portable ease-of-use, even though some have an edge in performance and the Asus ROG Ally X can also beat it in AAA gaming battery life.
That said, Valve may also bring its SteamOS to rival handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally X before too many more months go by, and I’ve been very impressed when running Bazzite’s version of the SteamOS interface on my Ally X review unit (though it has its wrinkles).
If you’re at PAX Australia in Melbourne, you can try the Steam Deck at Valve’s booth today.
We are excited to announce that Steam Deck is coming to Australia in November, 2024! The team is in Melbourne at PAX AUS, so stop by our booth if you’re in town to try out Steam Deck! pic.twitter.com/2hfygzJNiN— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) October 11, 2024
Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge
Australians will finally be able to officially buy Valve’s Steam Deck in their home country — two and a half years after the handheld gaming PC first went on sale, and a year after it arrived in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Australians have been asking for this for years — and Valve promised to make it happen way back in November 2021.
It’ll arrive this November in the same primary configurations Valve sells elsewhere: a 256GB configuration of the original LCD model, or 512GB and 1TB versions of the newer OLED model that also come with longer battery life, a better screen, and more. They’ll cost AUD $649, $899, and $1,049 respectively.
(While the OLED model does cost $250 AUD more than the original, it has so many important changes that I’d personally recommend it over the LCD version to anyone who can afford it.)
While even the OLED model will be an entire year old by the time it arrives in Australia, there’s no current indication that Valve will release a faster, better version anytime soon — and no handheld running Windows can currently match it for portable ease-of-use, even though some have an edge in performance and the Asus ROG Ally X can also beat it in AAA gaming battery life.
That said, Valve may also bring its SteamOS to rival handhelds like the Asus ROG Ally X before too many more months go by, and I’ve been very impressed when running Bazzite’s version of the SteamOS interface on my Ally X review unit (though it has its wrinkles).
If you’re at PAX Australia in Melbourne, you can try the Steam Deck at Valve’s booth today.
We are excited to announce that Steam Deck is coming to Australia in November, 2024! The team is in Melbourne at PAX AUS, so stop by our booth if you’re in town to try out Steam Deck! pic.twitter.com/2hfygzJNiN
— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) October 11, 2024