My Steam Deck has finally been made available – so why am I not smiling

As regular readers of T3 will know, I've got history with Steam Deck. Which is why I was finally very interested to read T3's own Steam Deck review, which was published just a few weeks ago.

I was very interested to read what our reviewer thought but, I've got to say, regardless of hearing both the good and bad comments, in the end the review's conclusions didn't have me swayed one way or the other.

The reason? I'd already given up and mentally checked out of owning a Steam Deck months ago.

So when, just this week, an email dropped into my mailbox informing me that my Steam Deck is now available to finally buy, it didn't even feel very climatic at all. I just shrugged and thought once more of what could of been.

I'm a long-term passionate PC gamer (who has been building PCs since the mid-1990s) with a good-size Steam library and a rig powered by a Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, so on paper I should be jumping for joy right now and ringing up the console, right? Well, no actually, because as I wrote about previously my experience with ordering and then waiting for this PC gaming console has been one of gradual erosion of excitement to the point where I openly stated back in March that, "I genuinely am thinking I will cancel the pre-order".

I think the truth is that I was all fired up to be an early Steam Deck adopter, but when that didn't happen and I was left out in the cold, not knowing when my Steam Deck would even turn up, I naturally started to re-evaluate where my time and money was going to be placed.

I'd previously said, for example, that I'd also got my eye on PSVR 2 and while my excitement for Steam Deck slowly dwindled, and especially so since it launched back in February 2022, my excitement for Sony's next-gen VR headset has increased significantly, culminating recently in our first real look at the headset in the real world.

This switch in priorities has also come at a time when the cost of living crisis has pressed in on my finances like millions of other people in the UK and beyond, so while I've still got my £565 ready to go that I'd saved for Steam Deck, I'm now looking to the future and seeing that as my PSVR 2 money, and likely with extra games and accessories thrown in, too.

Sony has confirmed, too, that over 1.5 million PSVR 2 headsets are going to be made available to gamers at launch, which to me sounds enthusing – it sounds like I'll be able to get a PSVR 2 along with my friends and get stuck in to a range of next-gen VR experiences at launch. This is something I never got chance to do with the Steam Deck.

So, as sad as it is, I won't be buying my Steam Deck and it will be instead offered to another PC gamer. And, you know what, I really hope it delivers them plenty of joy as from what I've read Steam Deck has a lot to offer.

It's just that, for me, it was never meant to be.