Valve’s handheld gaming PC the Steam Deck now has a proper date for release with those who ordered in the first window now receiving their devices come 25th February.

The original release window for the device was December 2021 but Valve had to delay this due to the continued production problems caused by COVID-19.

At the time Valve announced a two month delay into February 2022, but there was no specific day for that until now.

“Hello, the day is almost here! On February 25th, we will be sending out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders. Customers will have 3 days (72 hours) from receipt of their order email to make their purchase, before their reservation is released to the next person in the queue. The first units will be on their way to customers starting the 28th, and we plan to release new order email batches on a weekly cadence,” an announcement reads.

This is a unique way of releasing the orders that should ensure that some dead accounts or fake accounts don’t eat up the slot of a real person, though for those of us who sometimes miss emails in our inbox it may be a problem. If you put down money for a Steam Deck it’s best to be watching your emails like a hawk next month.

For those still on the fence about the entire idea of the Steam Deck, Valve has also announced that 25th February will be when review units are sent out to media houses and, on top of that, the embargo lifts on the same date so those who already had access can publish their findings.

For those of us in South Africa and many other countries the reviews won’t mean much as the Steam Deck is not sold in our regions. More territories are said to be included when the next ordering window opens up but there’s no way to know if we’re included in this expansion either.