Buying a Steam Deck in Australia is now much easier

The Steam Deck is Valve’s latest venture into the world of consumer electronics hardware. The device is a portable PC with a handheld form-factor that promises to leverage powerful specs and the enormous library of games that are available on the Steam online store. 

Under the hood, the Steam Deck is powered by a custom AMD Zen 2 processor, 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory and up to 512 GB of SSD storage. The big picture appeal here is an on-the-go gaming experience with fewer compromises than Nintendo Switch has, plus a much bigger and better catalog of playable titles.

At launch, the Steam Deck proved incredibly difficult for Australians to purchase but late in 2022, various online retailers began stocking it, making it much easier to purchase locally. 

As mentioned above, the Steam Deck is now available to purchase through various Australian retailers online but it still hasn't appeared in brick-and-mortar stores, like JB HI-FI or EB Games.

At one point in time, Valve’s Steam Link streaming box and the accompanying Steam Controller were readily available and sold in Australia via an alliance with EB Games.

That precedent, along with enduring dominance of EB Games as the go-to gaming retailer for many Australian communities, is one reason to hope that Valve might look at another team-up when it comes to launching the Steam Deck in Australi sofficially.

That said, local availability for Valve products in Australia has been notoriously unpredictable in the past. For example, Valve’s Index VR headset didn’t arrive in Australia until two years after it launched elsewhere.

For now, your best option is to simply purchase it through Amazon and Kogan. Both websites offer fast, free shipping on various models. Kogan currently has the better deals but you need to be signed up to Kogan First if you want the considerable discounts listed below (there's a 14-day free trial if you only need it for purchasing the Steam Deck). 

The Valve Steam Deck officially released in the US, Canada and Europe on the 25th of February 2022, and in Japan later that year on the 17th of December. The Steam Deck may have not recieved an official release in Australia but as of January 2022, it is available for purchase through retailers such as Amazon Australia and Kogan.

When it comes to the specs involved, the Steam Deck has a number of technical advantages over the handheld it’s most likely to be compared against: the Nintendo Switch.

Check out the table below for a breakdown of how the display and processing specs on the Steam Deck compare to those of the three Nintendo Switch handhelds currently on the market.