Valve, the company behind the Steam Deck (and all things Steam), has announced that the launch of the official ‘dock’ of the console has been delayed once again due to production cuts related to the COVID-19 pandemic and component shortages. It is not the first time that this situation has occurred, since the launch of the dock was delayed last February due to the same circumstances.
Valve has said around this matter that it is “working to improve the situation”so, at least for now, it can be said that the distribution of the dock has been left up in the air and without a certain date.
The double crisis that has taken place in the world in recent years has been a blow to the console division of the company led by Gabe Newell, since at this time there are still people who are waiting to receive the Steam Deck units that they reserved a long time ago. weather. Valve has come forward to say that Steam Deck production will not be affected because they are products that require different components.
With the Nintendo Switch being a bestseller, there is no need to explain in depth what Valve intends to offer with the official dock for the Steam Deck, through which it will be made available one HDMI 2.0 port, one DisplayPort 1.4 port, one USB Type-A (rectangular) 3.1 port, and two USB Type-A 2.0 ports. The device would obviously be connected to the USB Type-C port of the console/mini-PC.
As with Nintendo Switch, through the dock the door is opened to mount the Steam Deck as a desktop computer with an external screen and, if it fulfills everything that is expected of such a device, it should be able to to charge the battery. Valve is working on SteamOS 3 to improve its support for USB hubs and external displays.
We remember that SteamOS 3 is a standard GNU/Linux operating system with the only peculiarity of being immutable, a characteristic in which it is not the first nor the only one. This means that on paper it should support other USB hubs that are compatible with Linux, although here you have to be careful with the chosen device and document yourself beforehand to know if the system is capable of squeezing all its possibilities, especially in what when it comes to display output (the possibility of alternative docks and hubs targeting the Steam Deck is also open).
In short, the official dock for the Steam Deck has been delayed and now has no release date. We’ll see if Valve is able to fix the incidents it’s running into within a reasonable time frame.
