The RAM crisis just killed its first game console

If you’re hoping to get your hands on a Steam Deck anytime soon, unfortunately, you might be out of luck. Right now, every version of the Steam Deck, both LCD and OLED, is out of stock on the US Steam Store, and based on Valve’s latest messaging, it could be a while before that changes.

On the Steam Deck store page, Valve has posted a new notice warning that its popular handheld gaming console “may be out of stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages.” In other words, the availability of the Steam Deck OLED is now hindered by the ongoing memory and RAM shortage driven by the AI industry, which began late last year and shows no signs of ending.

Valve also used the same notice to reiterate that its more affordable Steam Deck LCD is officially out of production. Once the remaining inventory in a region sells out, it’s gone for good. In the US, it has been unavailable for quite some time, though some European regions still have limited stock. You can read the full notice from Valve below:

Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold out will no longer be available.

The RAM crisis won’t be over anytime soon

This Steam Deck situation makes me even more concerned about the Steam Machine

The ongoing memory and storage shortage has been causing problems across the tech industry for months. AI companies have been snapping up massive amounts of RAM and storage to meet growing data center demands, tightening supply for everyone else. As a result, consumer prices for memory and storage have skyrocketed, and some analysts believe it could take years for supply to stabilize and prices to normalize. So, in short: blame AI for temporarily killing the Steam Deck.

The Steam Deck isn’t the first Valve product to be caught up in the ongoing RAM apocalypse either. Earlier this month, Valve confirmed that its new Steam Machine and Steam Frame VR headset have both been delayed due to memory shortages and ongoing price fluctuations.

“When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then,” Valve explained. “The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).”

With the Steam Deck LCD out of production, Valve is only offering two versions of the Steam Deck now: the 512GB OLED model at $549 and the 1TB OLED model at $649. Valve hasn’t said anything about the Steam Deck OLED’s price going up, but with component prices rising, I wonder whether the Steam Deck could be affected as well in the near future, especially since the PS5 and Xbox Series X have already increased in price, and the Switch 2 is rumored to increase in price later this year.

Overall, if you’ve been on the fence about getting a Steam Deck, you may want to consider getting your hands on one the next time it suddenly pops up in stock on the Steam Store, as it’s unclear when this RAM and storage shortage will be resolved and whether the price of the Steam Deck could one day be affected.