Valve's "Get It Early" hardware preorders are sold out

Alienware Steam Machine

As the name suggests, Valve's "Get It Early" scheme offered advance access to the company's forthcoming range of hardware to those willing to throw down cash before anyone else. But "only while supplies last," Valve warned earlier this month, when it announced that 35 percent of the stock had already been sold. And now it seems that the remaining 65 percent is gone too.

Head over to their respective store pages and you'll notice that the Controller and Link now list an availability date of November 10, rather than October 16, which is when "get it early" preorders will start shipping. You can still put down your money on them, but you'll have to wait in line with the rest of us before you'll get your hands on the gear.

Interestingly, as Ars Technica noticed, while the Alienware Steam Machine also lists November 10 as the date of availability, the Syber models have a shipping date of "on or after Oct. 15." That date comes from Syber's own website, however, and not Steam, and it's vague enough to mean just about anything. The remaining Steam Machines carry a less-precise availability date of "November 2015."

Valve still hasn't said how many of these devices it has actually sold so far, meaning we have no idea if 500 Steam Controllers have been preordered, for instance, or 5000, or 50,000. It's not unreasonable to assume the kit is selling briskly, but without solid numbers it's impossible to get an accurate picture as to just how popular it really is. The one thing we can say for sure right now is that if you wanted to be early, you're too late.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.