Despite a recent delay and the concern of ongoing global chip shortages, Valve says the Steam Deck is still on track for its February 2022 release.

The news that Steam Deck is still on track comes via a new discussion with Valve lead designer Greg Coomer, who talked up the hotly anticipated handheld PC and their current outlook.

“We do feel like we’re on track for that,” Coomer said to PC Gamer. “We’re still bummed that we had to move from end of this year to beginning of next. But yeah, all the signs are pointing to us being able to ship in February.”

After Valve revealed and shortly after launched pre-orders for the Steam Deck, pre-orders went quick and scalpers immediately began listing their pre-orders on Ebay. Valve was asked what kind of numbers they’re hoping to ship in February.

“It’s a real product launch, so many thousands of people right away are going to receive Decks as soon as we’re able to ship them,” Coomer said. “But even talking about thousands would be quite low compared to the volumes we’re shooting for in the first few months.”

Valve still hasn’t confirmed how many Steam Deck consoles have been pre-ordered, however the Steam Deck is different from other product launches where they have to supply global retailers – for now the Steam Deck is only sold through Steam.

The last update we had on Steam Deck hardware was that its final packaging was revealed, and earlier development kits were being sent out to developers. Valve also recently revealed the “Steam Deck Verified” program to let developers submit their games to be evaluated and presented as compatible or not with the handheld PC.

Valve’s Steam Deck is available for pre-order in three flavors: $399 (64GB), $529 (256GB), and $649 (512GB), over on the Steam store.

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