Good things come to those who act fast. Yes, apparently something as simple as a simple device recolor can be a limited edition now, and anyone who’s been praying to Gabe for a white Steam Deck better get ready for next week.
Today, Valve announced that it will start selling the Steam Deck OLED: Limited Edition White on November 18 at 3PM PT/6 PM ET. The design is reminiscent of a Portal-themed prototype the company showed off in a livestream three years ago, minus the Aperture Science branding on the back of the device. Instead, it’s got a matte white shell, white touchpads, and gray buttons, but otherwise “has all the same specs as the Steam Deck OLED 1TB model.”
While my hopes for an official Portal device have seemingly now been tossed into an incinerator like the companion cube, the official white Steam Deck still looks pretty slick, and it probably won’t take modders too long to prep Aperture Science decals for it.
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The special Steam Deck will cost $649, which is essentially a $30 premium for the white coloring, and will be available “in all Steam Deck shipping regions,” including those served by Komodo (Valve’s partner for shipping to various parts of East Asia). It comes with a special white carrying case, and less excitingly, a white microfiber cleaning cloth.
Valve hasn’t made it clear just how many units will be available, although the company says stock will be “allocated proportionally across each region.” Purchases will also be limited to one unit per account, and accounts will need to have made at least one Steam purchase prior to November 2024 to be eligible for purchase (presumably to cut down on bots).
Sadly, once the white Steam Deck is gone, it’s gone, as Valve “will not be making more of this particular design.” However, that wording does make it seem like other limited editions might come in the future. Previously, the company has released a smoky translucent variation of the device.
Valve recently confirmed in an interview with Australian site Reviews.org that it doesn’t plan to release a successor to the Steam Deck until it sees a “generational leap in compute,” so anyone waiting on a Steam Deck 2 can also rest easy knowing that their brand new white Steam Deck OLED likely isn’t going to become obsolete anytime soon. While competing devices like the Asus ROG Ally X do offer slightly more performance and a few other tweaks, Valve’s SteamOS operating system and aggressive pricing means the Steam Deck still holds a solid place in the handheld PC market.
