Could the Steam Deck finally be coming to Australia?

A sneaky little tease from Valve has sent the rumour mill into overdrive, leaving the door slightly ajar for a potential Steam Deck launch in Australia.

Steam appeared as a surprise entry in the recent PAX Aus 2024 exhibitor list announcement. It’s the first time Steam will appear at the Australian event in its 11 years, which is no small occasion.

Curiously, while each confirmed exhibitor revealed specific plans, like playable games or photo opportunities, Steam’s presence remains a mystery. All that accompanied the announcement was the cryptic “more on that when the show opens, you’re not going to want to miss it!”

For the endlessly hopeful among us, that’s as good as Valve confirming that Australia will officially get its Steam Deck handheld gaming PC.

In reality, Steam’s presence could mean literally anything. Maybe it’s to drum up hype for the in-development multiplayer game Deadlock? Or perhaps it’s more of a developer presence, doing some outreach to help local game studios get the most out of its ecosystem? This latter one seems unlikely, given that PAX Aus is a consumer-facing show.

Competitors like the ROG Ally X have already reached the Australian market. Image: Chris Button.

Since the Steam Deck launched overseas in 2022, Australia has been none the wiser regarding a local release. Valve followed up with an OLED model late last year but left us off the list again. In place of official local availability, retailers started selling imported Steam Decks as a stopgap. While that’s fine if you want your handheld gaming PC fix now, the lack of local warranty and customer support is a risk.

Two big reasons stand out as to why now might be the time for the Steam Deck to finally call Australia home. One is the explosion of handheld gaming PCs from competitors; from Asus’ ROG Ally to the Lenovo Legion Go and the MSI Claw, they’ve beaten Valve to the punch down under. They’re powerful machines but run on Windows, which isn’t as frictionless as Valve’s bespoke operating system.

Another major reason would be to enter the market ahead of Nintendo’s next console. Colloquially known as the “Nintendo Switch 2“, the yet-to-be-announced device is expected to be a more powerful handheld console. If the Steam Deck doesn’t arrive before then, Nintendo’s new hardware could cannibalise Valve’s hardware sales in Australia.

Of course, this is all speculation. But Steam wouldn’t show up at Australia’s biggest video game event for no reason, right?

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