After years of waiting, Steam Deck will be officially available in Australia from November

Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC — (Image credit: Future)

When Valve released the first Steam Deck in 2022 it wasn't possible to buy it (or pre-order it) in Australia. At the time, I optimistically predicted that the handheld would launch in Australia the following year. I was wrong, of course, though a roaring grey market trade has flourished on the likes of eBay and Amazon.

Well, Valve time has struck: Steam Deck will soon be available in Australia with prices starting from AU$649 for the 256GB LCD model. It's brilliant news for anyone who heeded Valve's warning in early 2023 about grey market sellers. "A quick note that the only official ways to purchase Steam Deck are directly from Steam (in the US, CA, EU, and UK), or from Komodo (JP, KR, TW, and HK)," it wrote. "Steam Decks sold via any other websites or retailers are unofficial - please be careful."

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.