Announced yesterday by surprise, the Valve console can be pre-ordered today. But, to avoid the debacles that surrounded the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series X last November, the company set certain conditions to be able to reserve its Steam Deck.
Scheduled for next December for 419, 549 or 679 euros depending on the model chosen, the Steam Deck can initially only be pre-ordered by “active” Steam users. Explanations.
A booking system to hinder bots
Rather than a classic pre-order system, Valve opts for reservations in good and due form. If you want to treat yourself to the Steam Deck, you will first have to pay a kind of virtual ticket at 5 euros which will allow you, when console stocks are available, to order your console. The FAQ reassures that this amount will obviously be deducted from the order total.
In short: the pre-order phase which opens today is only the first step in the purchasing process. Next December, all people who have reserved a console will receive, in order, an e-mail containing instructions for validating their order.
A system which, therefore, will a priori prevent bots from ruining the party by reserving consoles en masse for the sole purpose of then reselling them on the gray market. Moreover, Valve specifies that it is only possible to reserve one console per Steam account.
Pre-orders first reserved for loyal customers
Another particularity of the system imagined by Valve: pre-orders will first be reserved for people who have made a purchase on Steam before June 2021. A new countermeasure which aims to leave aside ill-intentioned people who would create, for the occasion, a Steam account in order to be able to scalp as many Steam Decks as possible.
This measure will nevertheless be temporary, because the reservation system described above will be open to everyone from this Sunday. All this assuming of course that the console meets the success expected by Valve. Which, given the characteristics of the machine and the price the company is asking for it, is far from a certainty...
