Valve’s Steam Deck registered over 110,000 pre-orders during the first 90 minutes it was available online. Let that number sink in. Any fears of Valve’s portable gaming PC being received tepidly have been dispelled in the most emphatic of fashions. 

Interested buyers from three different regions (North America, United Kingdom, and the European Union) all flocked in great numbers to pre-order what will undoubtedly be the first truly mainstream portable gaming PC. Whether they did so because they truly need such a device or because it was sold for cheap is less important at this point; what is important, however, is Valve has managed to knock it out of the park.

But that’s not even the most interesting part: these numbers don’t account for the cheapest SKU (the $399 one), but rather the middle and most expensive one. Pavel Djundik, the creator of SteamDB, followed the numbers closely and said that — according to his numbers — the Steam Deck was pre-ordered well over 110,000 times. 

We can rightfully assume that the cheapest model would surely push this number well over 150,000. Its slow eMMC storage isn’t all that alluring, but its price tag is. You can’t buy a more powerful laptop (or computer) for that kind of money — it’s a stellar purchase regardless of the way you look at it. 

According to Pavel, the sales numbers for the first 90 minutes are as follows: 

256GB SKU ($529) — 33,000 units pre-ordered

512GB SKU ($649) — 71,600 units pre-ordered

As expected, the biggest chunk of Steam Deck pre-orders came from North America (28k for the 256 model and around 55k for the highest-end one). Valve is still accepting pre-orders, but you’ll no longer be guaranteed to receive your device as “early as December 2021.” You’ll have to wait for Q2 2022 for the mid-tier SKU and Q3 2022 for the top-end model.

And, as buyers continue flocking in, these dates will only get pushed back more and more, so if you’re interested in buying a Steam Deck, make sure to put your pre-order in as soon as possible!

These numbers are astounding, no doubt, and they’ll only further legitimize portable gaming PCs from now on. This will also motivate other companies — like Alienware — to enter this fledgling market and potentially compete with Valve on even footing.

In any case, it’s an exciting moment to be a gamer, that’s for sure!