The end of a very short era has come! I guess if you care about the life cycle of technology products made by multi-billion dollar companies. Looks like the original LCD model times Steam deck is coming to an end, as a quiet message from Valve suggests that their focus will be on a slightly newer and shinier line of OLED handheld gaming devices.
As I noticed GamingOnLinuxby going to the store page for Steam deck sees you being greeted with the usual chatter about how good it is, what games you can play on it, what models you can buy, and then this note: “We are no longer making the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once it sells out, it will no longer be available.” That says it all, really, but essentially, if you've been putting off a purchase, don't like buying used gear, and don't really care about screen quality, here's a warning.
The original Steam Deck, this LCD model, was released back in February 2022, so we're approaching its fourth anniversary. Our very own James I really liked it back thenand then, a little less than two years after launch Valve announced an OLED model. This isn't surprising considering the folks at Nintendo did the same thing, the only difference being that they're still changing the original Switches along with the OLED upgrade. I can only assume that Valve simply doesn't sell enough LCD versions to justify its continued production.
Of course, the next big thing for Valve right now is their new attempt to create a steam engine. There's bound to be a new Steam Deck coming at some point, although according to Dom Gabe, you'll wait a little longer for this. Perhaps an LCD model is all any of us really need right now.
