Update: Valve says iFixit will keep selling Steam Deck batteries after all
Why would Valve stop stocking the most important replacement part just as people are starting to need it?
Here is Valve’s answer to The Verge, as of 5PM ET: “We just confirmed with iFixit that they plan to have batteries back in stock by next week.”
“iFixit will be getting the same OEM parts sourced through Valve’s partners that they always have,” spokesperson Kaci Aitchison Boyle tells me.
The Reddit story wasn’t necessarily false. Earlier today, iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens confirmed to The Verge that it had indeed heard that Valve would no longer make replacement batteries or screens for the original Steam Deck LCD.
But by afternoon, Valve and iFixit had already managed to change that. “They have hooked us up with a supplier, we’re working on it,” Wiens now tells me. And if Valve does decide to sunset the part in the future, iFixit says it’ll be ready to take up the torch by using an aftermarket supplier instead. “I want people to know we are going to find a way to get batteries for these things,” says Wiens.
Kinda feel like a 600 dollar device should be supported for at least a decade.
I doubt this is even Steam’s fault at this point, I’d almost guarantee every supplier has cut them off due to volume requirements and redirecting production to you know what.
Towards the Torment Nexus, right?
Yes, we need the Torment Nexus as quickly as possible. Imagine how horrible it would be if we were not the first ones to have a Torment Nexus!
Don’t want to get left behind.
This is exactly the point I was making in my comment. It’s basically impossible to find a supplier that will guarantee a decade lifespan for a nontrivial IC.
They dropped support for the 2015 Steam Controller 3 years ago. If you want to use it on modern versions of steam, you need to use a 3rd-party firmware update tool.
what do you mean? I can still play with the old steam controller without third party software
There was some window of time where it was available as an update in Steam, but it has been removed. If you didn’t update it during that window you have to use the 3rd party tool (exactly once, not to play every time).
How do we get silicon manufacturers to get on board with this concept?
Fix income and wealthy inequality and break up large businesses to force competition. .
That’s the long-term goal, and I’m fully on board, but how can we work within the system to accomplish this in a five-year timeline?
🔥🔥🔥
Well, that’ll accomplish one of the goals.
It’s very likely a prerequisite, unfortunately.
Woah is me, whatever will the biggest name in the PC gaming industry do?
Were you trying to say “woe?”
Yes, but the point is, they dont have any sway? Theres no way a multi billion dollar company can get a service contract for a decade? Sure, bud. Sure.
The company may be big, but their hardware orders are nothing compared to the orders for compute farms. They’ve gone on record recently about the Steam Machine saying there are some components they could not secure at all, for any price. Their service contacts are just not attractive when the world-ending AI farms are happy to pay more per unit and ordering more units total.
I do think they really should try their hardest to keep those replacement parts coming, but from the outside it’s impossible to know how hard they actually tried. The only question is whether you give them the benefit of the doubt. You don’t seem to, and that’s fine (honestly I’m not sure I should give it either), but what I’m saying is there is doubt, the market is so fucked right now that this is actually believable.
I can speak from actual industry experience: even major players in the hardware space have significant trouble sourcing the quantities they want if their names don’t start with “Samsu” or “App” - and sometimes, even then.
Lenovo, HP, and Dell are also pretty big players too.
But even Microsoft priced the Surface line as high as they did because they just weren’t moving much hardware in comparison.
No, they can’t. And the “biggest name” in PC gaming doesn’t mean they’re the biggest actual company in PC gaming, much less the biggest company in computing as a whole. They’re not even in the same league as datacenter operators and builders anymore. Nobody is. Maybe they should be. I think they deserve to be. But they aren’t. I too, wish the entire economy still made sense. But it’s not Valve’s fault that it doesn’t. They are not the ones causing this to be a reality, but it is still the reality whether it makes sense or not and whether we agree with it or not.
Honestly, no. Even Apple had to start making their own chips.
To clarify, I’m speaking with decades of industry experience.
That sucks. Right at the point where needing spare parts is getting more likely for Steam Deck owners. What’s the point in selling replacement batteries if you only sell them while almost everyone’s batteries are still fine?
Hopefully they’ll be able to stock some good third-party parts.
Well fuck. A lot of the OG decks are getting into battery replacement time, this is unfortunate if they really are discontinuing parts. I can’t blame valve to stop producing the older hardware but hopefully ifixit can work with them to line up reputable third party suppliers.
I’m confident that third-party batteries will come along in short order. I remember the early days when it took a week of research to find a “compatible” SSD replacement; a year later, scads of SKUs were being marketed as such, and at better prices.
Well, It will be much cheaper to source the battery replacement than any SSD for the next few years, that is for certain.
Article really only mentions battery. My LCD model has needed a replacement LB for a while, and I’ve been putting it off. Looks like maybe I shouldn’t do that now
Goddamn, it’s two and a half times more expensive than the last time I looked at one. And many other parts are just full out of stock.
I’ve had mine damn near 4 years now and I upgraded to a 2tb when I first bought it, and I just recently installed a new battery. Ifixit didn’t have the battery in stock when I looked, so I ordered a third party. It’s higher density, like 5000 mah and it fit just fine in the LCD deck. Honestly the hardest part of the install was loosening the adhesive, but if you follow the guide it’s not too bad, just gotta be patient.
No idea how well it’ll hold up, but it’s been fine so far. It’s nice to have some actual battery life available again for now at least. But with how these things have gone up in cost, I gotta try and get as much life out of it as I can.
Hopefully I can trust the Aliexpress batteries I guess.
Edit: Nvm we’re okay now: https://www.theverge.com/games/966106/valve-ifixit-will-keep-selling-steam-deck-lcd-battery
Maybe wait a tick until iFixit (or any other reputable source) blesses them.
That sucks. I’m kinda glad I didn’t wait for another month to replace my dying battery, but I’m sad for other people in the same boat.
More focus should be made on repairability for products like this.
Oh good. That was the whole reason I bought a Steam Deck lol. And my battery is in bad shape. Not that I blame Valve particularly.
Why don’t you blame Valve particularly?
iFixit said: “To add clarity: it’s not that we’re choosing to not stock these anymore. Unfortunately, Valve is just starting to sunset these parts.”
Well, because they’ve struggled with their suppliers of late. In any case, it’s a non-issue now that they won’t be sunsetting the batteries after all.
Right as prices for the steam deck oled skyrocket
