Valve just locked in a shipping date for the first batch of Steam Decks.

Valve has just announced that the first batch of Steam Deck units will begin to ship out starting February 28, with full orders starting on the 25th. This falls neatly in line with their previous statement saying that the first batch would begin to ship out by the end of February.

There will be a little bit of a process involved in this before your unit ships out, of course. On the 25th, Valve will send out the first batch of order emails to reservation holders. Those that receive an email have 3 days from the time they received their email to make their purchase. If they do not make a purchase in that 72-hour window, the next person in the queue will get that reservation instead. If you make your purchase in the window you're given, the first units will begin to ship out on the 28th.

Valve says that they will release new order email batches on a weekly basis.

The company also says that they'll be sending out press units shortly. The review embargo for the Steam Deck will lift on February 25, which should give everyone enough time to make an informed purchasing decision.