{"id":1775791,"date":"2026-02-17T11:53:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775791"},"modified":"2026-02-17T11:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T08:53:34","slug":"valve-blames-dwindling-steam-deck-supplies-on-ram-and-storage-shortages-as-ai-driven-demand-further-threatens-games-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1775791","title":{"rendered":"Valve blames dwindling Steam Deck supplies on RAM and storage shortages as AI-driven demand further threatens games industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">Valve blames dwindling Steam Deck supplies on RAM and storage shortages as AI-driven demand further threatens games industry<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Follows reports PS6 and Switch 2 also impacted.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/steam-deck-shortages.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Valve's warning about possible Steam Deck OLED stock shortages superimposed over a blurry background image of a person playing their Steam Deck in a forest.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"steam-deck-shortages.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>Eurogamer<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Matt Wales avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/1521645425.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Matt Wales avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"1521645425.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"179\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/matt-wales\">Matt Wales<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      News Reporter<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-02-17T11:53:34+00:00\">Feb. 17, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/valve-blames-dwindling-steam-deck-supplies-on-ram-and-storage-shortages-as-ai-driven-demand-further-threatens-games-industry?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          3 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>\nAs the tech giants&#8217; escalating AI arms race continues to impact RAM supplies, Valve has confirmed Steam Deck is the latest machine to face availability issues as a result of memory and storage shortages.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMemory shortages and soaring prices are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ram-prices-are-soaring-what-does-it-mean-for-gaming\">direct results of the tech industry&#8217;s continuing push into AI<\/a>. Substantial quantities of RAM are required to power AI platforms, so as tech giant including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta continue to invest in new AI data centres to remain competitive, the demand for RAM has increased dramatically.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s an issue that&#8217;s already threatening to have a significant impact on consumer electronics. Earlier this year, for instance, Valve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/valve-admits-its-steam-machine-and-steam-frame-will-be-delayed-due-to-ram-and-storage-price-surges\">announced a delay for its new Steam Machines<\/a>, specifically blaming memory and storage shortages &#8211; but it&#8217;s not just the company&#8217;s future hardware that&#8217;s impacted. Valve has also now confirmed its current Steam Deck line-up is similarly affected.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAs per a <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/steamdeck\">message on its Steam Deck store page<\/a>, Steam Deck OLED &#8220;may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages&#8221;. At the time of writing, all three Steam Deck models &#8211; the 256GB LCD model, as well as the 512GB and 1TB OLED &#8211; are unavailable in the US, but supplies in other countries, including the UK, remain available for now. Notably, Valve confirmed it was discontinuing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB back in December, meaning no more stock is being produced.\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\nValve&#8217;s dwindling Steam Deck supplies come amid reports that other gaming companies are considering dramatic responses to AI-driven memory shortages. This week, Bloomberg claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-reportedly-mulling-ps6-delay-while-nintendo-eyes-switch-2-price-hike\">Sony is looking to delay the launch of its PS6<\/a> into 2028 or 2029, while Nintendo is said to be mulling over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/platforms\/switch-2\">Switch 2<\/a> price increase later this year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nEurogamer&#8217;s Robert Purchese recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ram-prices-are-soaring-what-does-it-mean-for-gaming\">took a closer look at the issues surrounding RAM<\/a> and what they might mean for gaming.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>\nAs the tech giants&#8217; escalating AI arms race continues to impact RAM supplies, Valve has confirmed Steam Deck is the latest machine to face availability issues as a result of memory and storage shortages.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nMemory shortages and soaring prices are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ram-prices-are-soaring-what-does-it-mean-for-gaming\">direct results of the tech industry&#8217;s continuing push into AI<\/a>. Substantial quantities of RAM are required to power AI platforms, so as tech giant including Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta continue to invest in new AI data centres to remain competitive, the demand for RAM has increased dramatically.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nIt&#8217;s an issue that&#8217;s already threatening to have a significant impact on consumer electronics. Earlier this year, for instance, Valve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/valve-admits-its-steam-machine-and-steam-frame-will-be-delayed-due-to-ram-and-storage-price-surges\">announced a delay for its new Steam Machines<\/a>, specifically blaming memory and storage shortages &#8211; but it&#8217;s not just the company&#8217;s future hardware that&#8217;s impacted. Valve has also now confirmed its current Steam Deck line-up is similarly affected.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nAs per a <a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/steamdeck\">message on its Steam Deck store page<\/a>, Steam Deck OLED &#8220;may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages&#8221;. At the time of writing, all three Steam Deck models &#8211; the 256GB LCD model, as well as the 512GB and 1TB OLED &#8211; are unavailable in the US, but supplies in other countries, including the UK, remain available for now. Notably, Valve confirmed it was discontinuing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB back in December, meaning no more stock is being produced.\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\nValve&#8217;s dwindling Steam Deck supplies come amid reports that other gaming companies are considering dramatic responses to AI-driven memory shortages. This week, Bloomberg claimed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/sony-reportedly-mulling-ps6-delay-while-nintendo-eyes-switch-2-price-hike\">Sony is looking to delay the launch of its PS6<\/a> into 2028 or 2029, while Nintendo is said to be mulling over a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/platforms\/switch-2\">Switch 2<\/a> price increase later this year.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nEurogamer&#8217;s Robert Purchese recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/ram-prices-are-soaring-what-does-it-mean-for-gaming\">took a closer look at the issues surrounding RAM<\/a> and what they might mean for gaming.\n<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Valve blames dwindling Steam Deck supplies on RAM and storage shortages as AI-driven demand further threatens games industry Follows reports PS6 and Switch 2 also impacted. Image credit: Eurogamer News by Matt Wales News Reporter Published on Feb. 17, 2026 3 comments As the tech giants&#8217; escalating AI arms race continues to impact [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1775791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1775791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1775791\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1775791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1775791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1775791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}