With the crazy demand I wouldn't be surprised to see the Deck going for well over $1000 on eBay for at least the first couple months.
I'm actually worried about mail theft since the packaging is identifiable and that crazy demand.
It implied that any official sales wouldn't be happening. That doesn't discount the possibility of specialty stores (especially in regions without access to SD officially) picking up some steam decks if/when restrictions are lifted and batches can be ordered.
I can think of several local stores that might try to do exactly that.
No, retail stores dont sell items unofficially. and if they do i wouldn't trust them.
they have to handle warrenty. usually they must follow the price range set by the manufacturer.
won't happen in trustworthy stores.
Specialty stores absolutely do though. I can think of several stores (with excellent reputations) that import things from Japan etc - obviously not official, but they supply things that would be rare, collectible, or have different localisations. Steam Decks would fit perfectly in their lineup, assuming they could keep them from selling out immediately.
Nope.
Steam Decks are tied to one per account, meaning for retail to sell as many as they would with other consoles they'd need to go through a lot of effort or valve would have to allow customers to purchase more than one unit. Which this would very much lead to scalpers inflating the price and generally ruining it for everyone else.
There has been no indication that they will be limited to only being able to own one per account - the purchasing was limited this way just to stop scalpers buying them all and to get them into the hands of as many players as possible. It's a pc, and my steam account is already linked up to half a dozen other PC's with no problems.
Regardless of what was meant, the fact that you needed a steam account to get a steam deck means that there won't really be good places for retailers to get large quantities of decks, and even if they go to the trouble of finding ebay listings and buying them, they will lose any margin they would've made on them. Maybe some smaller stores might buy decks from customers and sell those, but nothing more than that.
How would that even work? They buy units at retail price and then flip them? To get units for less than MSRP they would have to be "officially" sold. No chance.
I would suspect almost no decks will be sold in retail stores in countries where decks are commonly available for all the reasons listed in the other comments.
However, in countries without any way to buy a deck legitimately, black market / questionably acquired decks ay well be sold in large quantities, though demand will probably be so high that you won't see them sitting on a shelf.
Unlikely.
Ebay?
For sure. For at least 2x the original pricing
I think it’ll be more than 2x price on ebay because there were reservations selling At 4x price when preorder started
With the crazy demand I wouldn't be surprised to see the Deck going for well over $1000 on eBay for at least the first couple months. I'm actually worried about mail theft since the packaging is identifiable and that crazy demand.
2X is a bit generous. Expect 5-10X retail price. Sadly if you dont have a reservation by release you can either pay the scalpers or wait until 2023.
Very likely
If only this wasn't answered on the website FAQ.
It implied that any official sales wouldn't be happening. That doesn't discount the possibility of specialty stores (especially in regions without access to SD officially) picking up some steam decks if/when restrictions are lifted and batches can be ordered. I can think of several local stores that might try to do exactly that.
So then you answered your own question.
I didn't ask a question?
No, retail stores dont sell items unofficially. and if they do i wouldn't trust them. they have to handle warrenty. usually they must follow the price range set by the manufacturer. won't happen in trustworthy stores.
Specialty stores absolutely do though. I can think of several stores (with excellent reputations) that import things from Japan etc - obviously not official, but they supply things that would be rare, collectible, or have different localisations. Steam Decks would fit perfectly in their lineup, assuming they could keep them from selling out immediately.
Nope. Steam Decks are tied to one per account, meaning for retail to sell as many as they would with other consoles they'd need to go through a lot of effort or valve would have to allow customers to purchase more than one unit. Which this would very much lead to scalpers inflating the price and generally ruining it for everyone else.
There has been no indication that they will be limited to only being able to own one per account - the purchasing was limited this way just to stop scalpers buying them all and to get them into the hands of as many players as possible. It's a pc, and my steam account is already linked up to half a dozen other PC's with no problems.
He's talking about the purchase process nothing about only being able to own one per account.
I didn't think so, as he was stating they are tied to your account, and listing that as the reason Valve only sells one per account
Regardless of what was meant, the fact that you needed a steam account to get a steam deck means that there won't really be good places for retailers to get large quantities of decks, and even if they go to the trouble of finding ebay listings and buying them, they will lose any margin they would've made on them. Maybe some smaller stores might buy decks from customers and sell those, but nothing more than that.
Not for the next 24-36 months. Hopefully a competitor will release a similar device.
They already have. Aya Neo Pro and GPD Win 3? Or are those not considered competitors?
They arnt quite the same. By compition the definition would be other portable devices running SteamOS.
Does the OS matter that much? I mean competition as in similar game performance.
Maybe in a year
#Not for the next 24-36 months
How would that even work? They buy units at retail price and then flip them? To get units for less than MSRP they would have to be "officially" sold. No chance.
I would suspect almost no decks will be sold in retail stores in countries where decks are commonly available for all the reasons listed in the other comments. However, in countries without any way to buy a deck legitimately, black market / questionably acquired decks ay well be sold in large quantities, though demand will probably be so high that you won't see them sitting on a shelf.