The LCD Steam Deck’s days are coming to an end, as Valve wind down production of the OG model

The end of a very short era is here! I guess, if you care about the life cycles of tech products made by multi-billion dollar companies. It appears that the days of the original LCD model of the Steam Deck is coming to an end, as a quiet notice from Valve suggests their focus will be with the slightly newer, shinier OLED line of handheld gaming devices.

As spotted by GamingOnLinux, heading to the store page for the Steam Deck sees you being greeted with the usual spiel about how good it is, the games you can play on it, which models you can buy, and now, this note: “We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available.” That kind of says it all really, but essentially, if you were putting off buying one, don’t like buying tech second hand, and aren’t particularly fussed about screen quality, there’s your warning.

The original Steam Deck, this LCD model, launched back in February, 2022, so we’re coming up to its fourth anniversary. Our own James liked it quite a lot back then, and then a little under two years after it launched Valve announced the OLED model. No real surprise there considering those Nintendo guys did the same thing, the difference there being they’re still shifting original Switches alongside the OLED upgrade. I can only assume that Valve just aren’t selling enough of the LCD version to justify its continued production.

Of course, the next big thing for Valve right now is their new attempt at a Steam Machine. A new Steam Deck will surely come at some point, though according to the House of Gabe, you’ll be waiting a while longer for it. Perhaps an LCD model is all any of us really need right now.