Valve recently set the gaming community abuzz when they unveiled their Steam Deck, the portable PC device that apparently plays just as well when docked and undocked. The first batch for the device went up for pre-order this past July and promptly sold out within minutes. Those who were lucky enough to snag an order were ready to receive their device this December, that was until the unfortunate news that Valve has just revealed. The company announced that the first batch of the Steam Deck has been delayed until February 2022, roughly two months from the initial release time frame.

Valve just announced that the Steam Deck is delayed; coming February 2022 nowhttps://t.co/JY4sjyfY5n pic.twitter.com/YzshCSsOmW

— Nibel (@Nibellion) November 10, 2021

According to Valve, the delay is due to the “global supply chain issues” and “material shortages” which is causing the development to essentially halt before the aforementioned launch time frame. “Based on our updated build estimates, Steam Deck will start shipping to customers February 2022. This will be the new start date of the reservation queue—all reservation holders keep their place in line but dates will shift back accordingly.” Valve stated that the reservation dates would be updated shortly following the announcement.

The supply chain shortage has been a serious issue for the video game industry, which was exemplified by the extreme scarcity of brand new PC graphic cards, the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5, and the Xbox Series X|S. The shortage itself was a result of the worldwide effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which brought production and development to a screeching halt out of nowhere. This in turn resulted in a severe backlog of products and materials to be made for consoles, games, and other items.

Hopefully, Valve won’t have to make an additional delay for the Steam Deck, as it’s easily the most anticipated new type of PC hardware to release this year. The Steam Deck’s first batch will now arrive sometime in February 2022.