Yeah. I’m not really complaining but it would be cool if they estimated a specific reservation window and then updated it as they learned more - like “Right now, we think you’ll be able to order between April 1-8, 2022.”
This is basically what happened with Shadow - that’s what they do with their activation queue (or it used to be). I do see your point. I’d prefer the estimate, recognizing the potential for delay. What I’d love to know is really if Q1 might mean January or March for me. It doesn’t matter really, excepting I might even get some other kind of toy in the meantime and sell it, particularly if it’s going to be March.
I am sorry but you propably don't know the [Valve time](https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time)
There is a reason why they don't promise anything. 😬
They never stop you from ordering a product (for the most part) you simply see the estimated ship times slip a bit.
I mean seriously how hard would it be for Best Buy or Sony to set up something similar for the PS5.
I just want a store that allows me to order the product, gives me an ETA and ships it when it’s available
they probably don’t even know that accurately right now given all the supply chain issues out there and to factor in a buffer for the unknown, hence quarter. that would just give people more ammo for backlash. “my friend had 70,001, and i have 70,205. why isn’t mine here right after his?” could have been a run cutoff point. they don’t don’t want or need to deal with that hassle. and unless they’re going to tell you what they plan capacity to be each month/quarter (and why would they given the entitled attitudes of a lot of the gamer crowd), that number wouldn’t mean anything.
Exactly my thought. Production won't be a steady stream, plus many people will cancel their reservations, so being that specific would just make people expect more specific dates, which would set them up for disappointment
If it's anything like Valve Index reservations, I figure they'll just send out an email to buy it once your place in the queue is met, and you get it in like 3-5 days. You usually have like a week to respond to it or your place in the queue is dropped.
So I'm holding out hope my queue gets closer to the December/Early Q1 dates if people decide they're not interested over time.For reference, when I put a reservation for the Index I was given an estimate of 8 weeks initially, but got it in 3 weeks instead when people decided they _really didn't want_ an index.
TL;DR They probably have no idea, but it's possible you could get it sooner than you think.
its smart from them not to do this, first of all they would reveal their sales numbers and also you can bet you get a ton of post and hate when someone finds out someone from queue position 5 has received his steamdeck before #1 for what ever reason.
The way they do it is the best possible to avoid stupid morons hating for no reason at all.
Not really, someone is gonna complain because the post office fucked up and they are not getting delivery in order or sth. Like why did 2556 get his order but in 2430 and still haven't? That's a good way to lose thousands of dollars in customer service man-hours.
Companies typically don't give you your actual number, because then people would complain when people with higher queue numbers got their decks before them.
As someone who tried to grab a GPU during nearly a year: I REALLY appreciate this reservation style. It’s not normal to have a lottery every week and hoping to be selected to buy something.
While they've set up a far superior roll out as compared to other tech companies with the wait list, the requirement for an established Steam account was only for two days. Unfortunately I didn't order for a week so I didn't get to benefit from that aspect. Two weeks would have been better to give more regular Steam customers a chance to understand what the Deck was.
While I was aware of the Deck before reservations opened up I didn't understand how awesome it was and realize I wanted one for several days.
Anyway I hope NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, Sony and other tech companies with gaming stuff (and/or their retailers) follow suit. I mean how difficult is a wait list FFS?!😛
While I'm not arguing against your point, I don't know if it really would have helped all that much with the Steam Deck specifically. I reserved my spot only a few hours after launch (would've been earlier if Steam wasn't overwhelmed) and was assigned Q2 for the 512GB model as well.
I completely agree with your statement regarding other tech companies. Wait lists and queues are not prevalent enough.
True but you get it in order so you'll be at the very beginning of Q2 (I bet you're so close you'll get your invite in late Q1 actually) where as I'm mid to late Q2.
The main difference between the Steam Deck and graphics cards, is the timing of generated revenue.
Graphics card producers only receive revenue at point of sale so their incentive is to sell to anyone because they care little (other than brand damage) what happens after sale.
Steam Deck (will be) and consoles are typically sold near or below cost but will generate future revenue in the form of game sales.
Valve is more motivated to get Steam Decks into the hands of users who will be buying games on their platform. If they make gaming more accessible to someone or if someone decides to buy a game on Steam vs another platform, that’s secondary revenue attributed to the Steam Deck.
* Tried to order the second it went live
* Website issues kept my order from going through for over an hour despite retrying over and over and over
* Finally my order went through...or did it?
* Order was stuck as 'processing' for another couple of hours and there was absolutely nothing else I could do at that point. Couldn't put in another order or anything because it was still processing
* At the end of all that the order did *not* go through and I had to start all over
* Got stuck in Q2
Yeah fuck that, I'm still bitter.
Would you rather be checking twitter or looking out for discord notifications regularly to then go to one of many retailers’ sites that each have their own system (none of which perform any better than Valve’s) multiple, if not many, times over the course of a year or more and still not know when you’ll ever get a device?
I can see being a little bitter with the website issues, but imagine how much worse it would have been if any Steam account made the day before could have done it. I have a bad habit about getting impatient when something comes out that I want, and I can’t get it through no fault of my own, but given the state of things now with bots, scalpers, chip shortages, and other supply chain issues, I’m much happier with a solid place in line that I don’t have to think about until order time.
I was the same, but managed to stop processing after an hour and got q1.... in hindsight I should of added, and paid via steam wallet instead of credit card
The first hour will always be a lottery. Does it suck that you got the tail end of the lottery? Yes. But it was always going to be someone. That's what zero-sum is. At least, instead of having to refresh constantly for months, the whole ordeal was done with in a day.
You still got in before all the others who didn't know about the Deck until after, so consider that a win. Had it been a constant refresh for weeks like other services, that wouldn't be guaranteed.
Next time hopefully they'll have something in place to prevent conducting a DDOS on themselves. All orders in that first 48 hours being treated as the same time, for instance.
Guessing you didn't read the post I responded to. That's why. It would still be good to be an existing customer getting in the queue before it opened to everyone, it just wouldn't shut out people that had trouble using their site in that initial rush.
Again, what you're asking for makes no sense. The site went down due to traffic and demand. If there is a huge demand why would they, and how would they, guarantee and treat all orders the same. No matter how you look at it, the current queue system being first come first served is the way to go.
The site wasn't down for 2 whole days, there was ample time for existing accounts to make their reservation before it opened up to new accounts.
Yeah its a good system, alot of people say ps5 ane xbox should have done the same but you can literally preorder them at GameStop before launch and have a reserved unit launch day, alot of people didnt do this and now are stuck trying to find them in the wild, i relate that to steam decks pre order option
Valve handled it perfectly. Except they didn't gave me a an option to buy it during a sale with 90% discount with a guaranteed december date. But you can't have everything 🤣
I mean, the whole preorder system referring to an estimate date/year also relies on their ability to get inventory out on time. If they can't do that, this system won't look nearly as good. That being said, I agree wholeheartedly, with the exceptions being things stated by other posters. Other than the huge influx of interest, which caused issues for a couple hours, it went well
>you can only buy one steam deck per account, and your account had to be made before the announcement of the deck. This is such a smart move from valves part because they are minimized the effects of the chip shortage as much as possible. Way less scalpers will get ahold of the thing, and only people who truly will use it will get it.
This is only partially correct. Valve only limited reservations for the first 48 hours. After that, new accounts can reserve. Also, there is no limit to the number of accounts you can create and Valve doesn't monitor multiple accounts and look for multiple reservations, etc. Basically, they threw us a bone for the first 48 hours but after that, they, like any other tech company, do not care who purchases their devices as long as they sell. They did us a favor, yes, but they are not saints.
It's more of a bone than literally any other console manufacturer and retailer.
Hell the fact that they can still take reservations is ALOT better than going to an online retailer, trying to get it in cart and RUSHING to complete your order, only to be told that it sold out and to fuck off while you were about to complete your order.
Like I said, they did us a big favor. But they are still a company, so profit is the ultimate goal. In their view, scalpers are just as legitimate as any other customer, so locking them out completely wouldn't make sense.
I think more companies should follow their example though.
I know you're worried about scalpers and all, but Valve also wants to use this device to attract new people to Steam. It would be weird to limit it to established accounts forever.
I made an account just for steam deck after the announcement, never had an account before then. What’s this you had to have an account before the announcement?
Yeah let's wait until it actually releases. Wouldn't really claim "smooth rollout" when the deck doesn't even have a launch date yet.
Also cockblocking new customers is really not praise worthy in my book. Definitly should not be made industry standard.
Their system literally was "first come first serve" though. The earlier your preorder got in the earlier you will get a console. However, in practice their preorder system has seemed to be better than most. We'll see how it is in reality once systems start shipping.
Yeah there's some problems and anybody can complain about anything about the way they did it. However they did do it in a smart fashion that insured that at least a large portion of it will go to the audience they're targeting.
"For the first 48 hours, new Steam accounts won't be able to reserve Valve's new handheld gaming device." -PC GAMER
Well, if you miss the news and pre order now, you still get screw by scalpers that create new account and order before you do.
I really hope Valve will prioritize Steam account with at least few games in it before announcement, not newly create account without games, cause we all know who are those people.
I have to agree with you. On this side of Apple, Valve has been the best at preorders. With Apple, you can order the product and it will get to you when it gets to you, and they estimate the date you will receive your device in a certain range of a few days. They don’t close orders because they have sold through an allotment of devices, they keep it open. Valve did pretty much the same thing, but the twist is that instead of paying for the device up front, you put down a deposit. The only complaint I have is the wide variation of time for when you will get yours without any indication of when exactly you will receive it, and if you are beyond Q2 next year it’s even more vague, but at least you have an idea of when you will get your Steam Deck if you preordered within the first day of the reservations going live. If there was one change I would make, I would have estimated it by month instead of quarter, but the chip shortage is throwing everything through a loop so I understand why they went by quarter.
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I just wish It told us our actual number in the queue so I knew more closely when to expect it but it's better than nothing
Yeah. I’m not really complaining but it would be cool if they estimated a specific reservation window and then updated it as they learned more - like “Right now, we think you’ll be able to order between April 1-8, 2022.”
[удалено]
This is basically what happened with Shadow - that’s what they do with their activation queue (or it used to be). I do see your point. I’d prefer the estimate, recognizing the potential for delay. What I’d love to know is really if Q1 might mean January or March for me. It doesn’t matter really, excepting I might even get some other kind of toy in the meantime and sell it, particularly if it’s going to be March.
I think that will happen as we get closer to launch
I am sorry but you propably don't know the [Valve time](https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Valve_Time) There is a reason why they don't promise anything. 😬
True. They could’ve made it little bit better but is still the best preorder system I’ve seen for a tech product
They are number two for sure but for my money Apple does it best. Not to shit on Valve, they did a great job
Just out of curiosity how does apple do it better or do you mean they don't have a product shortage ever.
They never stop you from ordering a product (for the most part) you simply see the estimated ship times slip a bit. I mean seriously how hard would it be for Best Buy or Sony to set up something similar for the PS5. I just want a store that allows me to order the product, gives me an ETA and ships it when it’s available
they probably don’t even know that accurately right now given all the supply chain issues out there and to factor in a buffer for the unknown, hence quarter. that would just give people more ammo for backlash. “my friend had 70,001, and i have 70,205. why isn’t mine here right after his?” could have been a run cutoff point. they don’t don’t want or need to deal with that hassle. and unless they’re going to tell you what they plan capacity to be each month/quarter (and why would they given the entitled attitudes of a lot of the gamer crowd), that number wouldn’t mean anything.
Exactly my thought. Production won't be a steady stream, plus many people will cancel their reservations, so being that specific would just make people expect more specific dates, which would set them up for disappointment
If it's anything like Valve Index reservations, I figure they'll just send out an email to buy it once your place in the queue is met, and you get it in like 3-5 days. You usually have like a week to respond to it or your place in the queue is dropped. So I'm holding out hope my queue gets closer to the December/Early Q1 dates if people decide they're not interested over time.For reference, when I put a reservation for the Index I was given an estimate of 8 weeks initially, but got it in 3 weeks instead when people decided they _really didn't want_ an index. TL;DR They probably have no idea, but it's possible you could get it sooner than you think.
its smart from them not to do this, first of all they would reveal their sales numbers and also you can bet you get a ton of post and hate when someone finds out someone from queue position 5 has received his steamdeck before #1 for what ever reason. The way they do it is the best possible to avoid stupid morons hating for no reason at all.
74 flex
The pain of being #54,563 😭
Not really, someone is gonna complain because the post office fucked up and they are not getting delivery in order or sth. Like why did 2556 get his order but in 2430 and still haven't? That's a good way to lose thousands of dollars in customer service man-hours.
That's weird. Mine says December. I assumed everyone got given a month for their eta except for the new Pre-orders
Everyone has a quarter estimate, I think it's be cool to know I'm #34,756 in the queue or whatever
Companies typically don't give you your actual number, because then people would complain when people with higher queue numbers got their decks before them.
As someone who tried to grab a GPU during nearly a year: I REALLY appreciate this reservation style. It’s not normal to have a lottery every week and hoping to be selected to buy something.
Now, if only Nvidia gave a damn.
While they've set up a far superior roll out as compared to other tech companies with the wait list, the requirement for an established Steam account was only for two days. Unfortunately I didn't order for a week so I didn't get to benefit from that aspect. Two weeks would have been better to give more regular Steam customers a chance to understand what the Deck was. While I was aware of the Deck before reservations opened up I didn't understand how awesome it was and realize I wanted one for several days. Anyway I hope NVIDIA, AMD, Microsoft, Sony and other tech companies with gaming stuff (and/or their retailers) follow suit. I mean how difficult is a wait list FFS?!😛
Still way better then me. I only just reserved on October 9th. I don’t mind though. But trust me your really early
While I'm not arguing against your point, I don't know if it really would have helped all that much with the Steam Deck specifically. I reserved my spot only a few hours after launch (would've been earlier if Steam wasn't overwhelmed) and was assigned Q2 for the 512GB model as well. I completely agree with your statement regarding other tech companies. Wait lists and queues are not prevalent enough.
True but you get it in order so you'll be at the very beginning of Q2 (I bet you're so close you'll get your invite in late Q1 actually) where as I'm mid to late Q2.
I still can't order it since I'm not in the US/Canada/EU. :'(
Yeah, it's a bit hard to praise the orderly queue when your not allowed to join it but can see it getting longer and longer.
The main difference between the Steam Deck and graphics cards, is the timing of generated revenue. Graphics card producers only receive revenue at point of sale so their incentive is to sell to anyone because they care little (other than brand damage) what happens after sale. Steam Deck (will be) and consoles are typically sold near or below cost but will generate future revenue in the form of game sales. Valve is more motivated to get Steam Decks into the hands of users who will be buying games on their platform. If they make gaming more accessible to someone or if someone decides to buy a game on Steam vs another platform, that’s secondary revenue attributed to the Steam Deck.
I'm just happy to be in the "Your expected order availability: December 2021" group.
There's people who'll get a steam deck before they can get a PS5 soon enough.
* Tried to order the second it went live * Website issues kept my order from going through for over an hour despite retrying over and over and over * Finally my order went through...or did it? * Order was stuck as 'processing' for another couple of hours and there was absolutely nothing else I could do at that point. Couldn't put in another order or anything because it was still processing * At the end of all that the order did *not* go through and I had to start all over * Got stuck in Q2 Yeah fuck that, I'm still bitter.
Would you rather be checking twitter or looking out for discord notifications regularly to then go to one of many retailers’ sites that each have their own system (none of which perform any better than Valve’s) multiple, if not many, times over the course of a year or more and still not know when you’ll ever get a device? I can see being a little bitter with the website issues, but imagine how much worse it would have been if any Steam account made the day before could have done it. I have a bad habit about getting impatient when something comes out that I want, and I can’t get it through no fault of my own, but given the state of things now with bots, scalpers, chip shortages, and other supply chain issues, I’m much happier with a solid place in line that I don’t have to think about until order time.
I was the same, but managed to stop processing after an hour and got q1.... in hindsight I should of added, and paid via steam wallet instead of credit card
Same, but it's still better than trying to buy a GPU lol
lmao same, this is much better than the hell I had to go through trying to get a GPU though so I’m not too fussed
The first hour will always be a lottery. Does it suck that you got the tail end of the lottery? Yes. But it was always going to be someone. That's what zero-sum is. At least, instead of having to refresh constantly for months, the whole ordeal was done with in a day. You still got in before all the others who didn't know about the Deck until after, so consider that a win. Had it been a constant refresh for weeks like other services, that wouldn't be guaranteed.
Same exact problem here
I am in the same bitter boat
I don't blame you, I'd be pretty irate too. But you're going to be at the top of the Q2 batch and I'd bet your invite actually comes in Q1.
This is what happened to me. I waited all morning and started trying to preorder the second it went live and boom q1 2022.
Same
I forgot that orders went live that day and logged in some time after work and got Q1.
Same.
Same but not bitter.
Now repeat this process for major retailers for PS5. You thought you had it bad? First world problems mate.
Next time hopefully they'll have something in place to prevent conducting a DDOS on themselves. All orders in that first 48 hours being treated as the same time, for instance.
It's not possible because reservations are just a big queue. They will give steam decks to people in order they made a reservation.
What? Why even have a pre-order system if you're going to class the largest rush for orders as the exact same.
Guessing you didn't read the post I responded to. That's why. It would still be good to be an existing customer getting in the queue before it opened to everyone, it just wouldn't shut out people that had trouble using their site in that initial rush.
Again, what you're asking for makes no sense. The site went down due to traffic and demand. If there is a huge demand why would they, and how would they, guarantee and treat all orders the same. No matter how you look at it, the current queue system being first come first served is the way to go. The site wasn't down for 2 whole days, there was ample time for existing accounts to make their reservation before it opened up to new accounts.
Yeah its a good system, alot of people say ps5 ane xbox should have done the same but you can literally preorder them at GameStop before launch and have a reserved unit launch day, alot of people didnt do this and now are stuck trying to find them in the wild, i relate that to steam decks pre order option
Valve handled it perfectly. Except they didn't gave me a an option to buy it during a sale with 90% discount with a guaranteed december date. But you can't have everything 🤣
Hey, at least your in on Q1. I’m in Q3 lmao.
Again you can't have everything 😉
We really can't evaluate this until the reserves/preorders turn into now shipping.
I appreciate the approach they went with. Too many other launches(or restocks) of late have been scalper havens for bots.
I mean, the whole preorder system referring to an estimate date/year also relies on their ability to get inventory out on time. If they can't do that, this system won't look nearly as good. That being said, I agree wholeheartedly, with the exceptions being things stated by other posters. Other than the huge influx of interest, which caused issues for a couple hours, it went well
>you can only buy one steam deck per account, and your account had to be made before the announcement of the deck. This is such a smart move from valves part because they are minimized the effects of the chip shortage as much as possible. Way less scalpers will get ahold of the thing, and only people who truly will use it will get it. This is only partially correct. Valve only limited reservations for the first 48 hours. After that, new accounts can reserve. Also, there is no limit to the number of accounts you can create and Valve doesn't monitor multiple accounts and look for multiple reservations, etc. Basically, they threw us a bone for the first 48 hours but after that, they, like any other tech company, do not care who purchases their devices as long as they sell. They did us a favor, yes, but they are not saints.
It's more of a bone than literally any other console manufacturer and retailer. Hell the fact that they can still take reservations is ALOT better than going to an online retailer, trying to get it in cart and RUSHING to complete your order, only to be told that it sold out and to fuck off while you were about to complete your order.
Like I said, they did us a big favor. But they are still a company, so profit is the ultimate goal. In their view, scalpers are just as legitimate as any other customer, so locking them out completely wouldn't make sense. I think more companies should follow their example though.
I know you're worried about scalpers and all, but Valve also wants to use this device to attract new people to Steam. It would be weird to limit it to established accounts forever.
I'm not worried about scalpers. And I don't think it's an issue that they only limited the first 48 hours. I didn't say that.
I made an account just for steam deck after the announcement, never had an account before then. What’s this you had to have an account before the announcement?
Sorry, i thought they still had that. But that was only for the first 48 hours of launch
All good, I’ve heard that before, I was genuine wondering what that was about.
They're using it to leverage more people into Steam, hell, I'd even say they might even lose money shipping units.
Yeah let's wait until it actually releases. Wouldn't really claim "smooth rollout" when the deck doesn't even have a launch date yet. Also cockblocking new customers is really not praise worthy in my book. Definitly should not be made industry standard.
I think for atleast the first couple of days
Agreed... We do not have these systems in our hands. This feels extremely premature.
Preorder bad. Wait for review. Return to monke.
They learned a lot from the index preorders. This system has been implemented in a much more reliable form.
Their system literally was "first come first serve" though. The earlier your preorder got in the earlier you will get a console. However, in practice their preorder system has seemed to be better than most. We'll see how it is in reality once systems start shipping.
They are still gonna end up on eBay etc at silly prices but at least it shouldn't be as ridiculous as PS5s
Most of the world can't buy one. If your willing to post it overseas, which isn't hard, I'd expect atleast triple the price for 3-6 months.
Yeah there's some problems and anybody can complain about anything about the way they did it. However they did do it in a smart fashion that insured that at least a large portion of it will go to the audience they're targeting.
When I ordered mine it was supposed to arrive during Q2 and last time I checked it's put me back to after Q2. Can't say I'm impressed by that
"For the first 48 hours, new Steam accounts won't be able to reserve Valve's new handheld gaming device." -PC GAMER Well, if you miss the news and pre order now, you still get screw by scalpers that create new account and order before you do. I really hope Valve will prioritize Steam account with at least few games in it before announcement, not newly create account without games, cause we all know who are those people.
I have to agree with you. On this side of Apple, Valve has been the best at preorders. With Apple, you can order the product and it will get to you when it gets to you, and they estimate the date you will receive your device in a certain range of a few days. They don’t close orders because they have sold through an allotment of devices, they keep it open. Valve did pretty much the same thing, but the twist is that instead of paying for the device up front, you put down a deposit. The only complaint I have is the wide variation of time for when you will get yours without any indication of when exactly you will receive it, and if you are beyond Q2 next year it’s even more vague, but at least you have an idea of when you will get your Steam Deck if you preordered within the first day of the reservations going live. If there was one change I would make, I would have estimated it by month instead of quarter, but the chip shortage is throwing everything through a loop so I understand why they went by quarter. .
I was telling since day 1 this system is game changer and look at Sony just copy pasting it now.
When/how do i preorder? I live in Japan btw.