Here's how Steam Deck pre-orders will work

Steam Deck pre-orders will open tomorrow, giving you your first chance to reserve Valve's new Switch-like handheld gaming PC.

Valve always has its own way of doing things, and that's going to be true for the Steam Deck pre-order process as well. Reservations will only be available through Steam and they will open up starting on Friday, July 16 at 10 am PDT / 1 pm EDT / 6 pm BST. There will be three units to choose from, ranging in price from $399 / £349 to $649 / £569 with improved specs to match, but it won't be a simple matter of signing up and waiting for your system to arrive.

For starters, Valve is requiring an initial fee of $5 on all reservations; Valve says this will "ensure an orderly and fair ordering process" by making sure folks who put their pre-order in really want one. This fee will be applied against the total balance of your Steam Deck purchase, so you're not spending any extra money, you're just laying some of it out up front. If you cancel your reservation within 30 days, the fee will be refunded to your payment method. After that, it will go into your Steam Wallet balance.

On top of the fee, you'll only be able to pre-order in the first 48 hours of availability if you made a purchase on Steam prior to June 2021. This is being done to combat scalpers, basically: since each Steam account will only be allowed to purchase one Steam Deck, profiteers won't be able to make a ton of free Steam accounts and use them to buy up huge chunks of the initial inventory. If you've never purchased a game on Steam before but still want to put in a Steam Deck pre-order, you'll have to wait until Sunday.

Finally, the reservation itself is the beginning of the purchase process, not the end. Once it has inventory to sell, Valve will notify customers based on the order their reservations were received. They will then be able to complete their purchase.

It is undoubtedly A Process. Hopefully it means more people who want to play their games on Steam Deck, rather than the people who want to resell at a big markup, will have an easier time getting a hold of the console than, say, hunting a PS5 restock.

Start stocking up your Steam account now (if it's not already packed) with our guide to the best PC games.