Valve's got the real docks for Steam Deck at Tokyo Game Show, have a look

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Knife fight in the comments over the single USB-C port.

Valve ofiicial Steam Deck Dock
(Image credit: Valve)

Valve's got some official Steam Deck docks at Tokyo Game Show, and is using them to charge their demo models. We've only had a look at renders so far, but the Dock looks pretty much precisely as it was supposed to be.

Eagle-eyed Reddit user ElderberryLarge9104  snapped some photos of the dock, one with deck entire and another of just the ports. (We noticed the photos on NME.)

the_official_dock_is_casually_being_shown_off_at from r/SteamDeck
clear_look_at_the_back_of_the_official_steam_deck from r/SteamDeck

The official Steam Deck Docking Station was advertised on the Steam Deck page from its inception. It was originally to come some time this year, but was delayed in June due to "parts shortages and Covid closures at our manufacturing facilities." Their estimate is that it'll show up in late spring, hopefully they mean 2023.

We don't really know that much about the Steam Deck Docking Station, or what functionality it might have beyond the purely obvious, which I wouldn't expect it to have but you never know. Two years ago I wouldn't have said that Valve was making a handheld PC but here we are. Me writing, you reading.

Valve's description says that the dock "props up your Steam Deck while connecting to external displays, wired networking, USB peripherals, and power." Which, yep, that's about precisely what those ports on the pictures do.

Valve's dock did get beat to the market by a dock from Jsaux, which our Katie Wickens called "sturdy and practical" despite some "frustrating limitations" in the PC Gamer review. You can also just buy a powered USB-C hub, but it won't have a little tray to sit your deck in.

Valve's booth at Tokyo Game Show is pretty cool, to be honest. Amid conventions still being cancelled due to Covid and supply constraints causing delays, the Steam Deck didn't get the big in-person preview treatment that past hardware releases from Valve did. On Twitter, Valve designer Lawrence Yang did a quickie walkthrough of how their booth works.

Beyond that look at the booth, Valve released a cool booklet about the Deck's development. We also got a look at a bunch of Steam Deck's in-progress development models, and even got to see how Half-Life 2 ran on a Steam Deck prototype.

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Jonathan Bolding
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Jon Bolding is a games writer and critic with an extensive background in strategy games. When he's not on his PC, he can be found playing every tabletop game under the sun.