Valve is making the Steam Deck even cheaper but there’s a catch

Sayem Ahmed
Steam Deck fancy image

Valve has started to make the Steam Deck even cheaper, by selling certified refurbished models of the device at a slight discount.

Valve’s Steam Deck is the king of handhelds at the moment. Its size, power, and community ecosystem around it a killer device. However, with competitors like the Asus ROG Ally and various Ayaneo devices, this class of device isn’t exactly cheap.

The Steam Deck has retained a relatively competitive price point since its launch, but if you’re in the US, then you can soon get an additional discount if you still find yourself Deck-less. The “Certified Refurbished” Steam Decks are likely to be customer returns, or defective models which have now passed quality checks. The refurbished consoles were first spotted by SteamDB founder Pavel Djundik, who shared his findings on Twitter.

The best part? There are no downsides to buying a refurbished product, and it’s a scheme that many companies run. The refurbished Steam Decks are priced as follows:

  • 64GB: $319
  • 256GB: $419
  • 512GB: $519

This is the same discount for the handheld that we previously saw in the Steam Summer Sale, so if you have your heart set on getting a brand-new device, you might want to wait until then. Otherwise, the refurbished Steam Deck models might be a great way to save a little bit of cash on your purchase.

Is the Steam Deck still worth it?

Steam Deck screen

The Steam Deck is one of the best handheld consoles you can buy today. The best part? There’s no reason why you can’t buy the 64GB model and insert a huge microSD to install all of your games onto. Or, if you are feeling brave, then you can also crack the device open and insert a new SSD of your own, to boot.

There are slightly more powerful devices out there now like the Ayaneo 2S, but those are not value-focused devices, though they can make use of things like SteamOS’s front-end for navigating your library.

At just $319, the Steam Deck is a steal, even if it is not the most cutting-edge device around any longer.