The Steam Deck officially released one year ago, with the first units shipping in the US, before rolling out to the UK, Canada, Europe as well as Asian countries such as Japan and Hong Kong, but there’s still no sign of a release in Australia or New Zealand.
Whilst Australia was often shafted with hardware generations ago, we’re now used to getting tech/gaming consoles on par with other parts of the world (if not earlier in certain cases), but this is the second major Valve release to come to Australia significantly later (if at all).
Steam Deck started shipping exactly one year ago today. Thank you everyone for an amazing first year of all-in-one portable PC gaming!
The community support and genuine love for Steam Deck has blown the entire team away – and there's much more to come. 🥳 pic.twitter.com/cjZwNkpebj
— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) February 25, 2023
The Valve Index released in Australia in August 2021, more than two years later than its 2019 release in the US, with Valve partnering with local retailer EB Games to bring the product down under, so it’s not super surprising that there wasn’t parity with release dates across the world, although Steam Deck is way more of a mainstream product than the Index.
WHY HASN’T THE STEAM DECK RELEASED IN AUSTRALIA?
At least initially, it took Valve a good few months to get US orders fulfilled before rolling out to other parts of the world, but Valve has a storied past with Australia. In 2017, the company was fined $3 million dollars (AUD) by the ACCC due to misleading gamers on its refund policy with its digital storefront, Steam.
Naturally, this would make Valve incredibly nervous to release a physical product here on its own, which is likely why it partnered with EB Games for a limited run of the Valve Index, and whilst I can’t say for certain that this is the reason why the Steam Deck hasn’t made its way down under, it’s hard to imagine it hasn’t played at least a small part in it.
HOW TO BUY A STEAM DECK IN AUSTRALIA
Whilst there’s no way to officially buy a Steam Deck in Australia, it is easier (and cheaper) than ever, with the likes of Amazon, Kogan, Dick Smith and Catch all selling them at reasonable prices compared to what it would cost to import.
CATCH/KOGAN
- Steam Deck 64GB – $760 + shipping
- Steam Deck 256GB – $1,099 + shipping
- Steam Deck 512GB – $1,239 + shipping
AMAZON
- Steam Deck 64GB – $887 with free shipping
- Steam Deck 256GB – $1,179 with free shipping
- Steam Deck 512GB – $1,475 with free shipping
Obviously, we’ll keep you posted if it does officially drop in Australia. We’d still expect it’d be with the likes of EB Games and such, but for now, these are your main options.
