Valve confirms users can replace the SSD on all models of Steam Deck

Dimapur, July 19 (EMN): Amid concerns about the low storage on the 64GB model of Valve‘s Steam Deck portable gaming device, the company has confirmed that users can replace and upgrade the internal SSD, although Valve highly recommends against it.

The news was confirmed after Valve co-founder and president Gabe Newell responded to a question from a Reddit user who had enquired about the Steam Deck’s SSD. Newell replied to the redditor saying that all models of the device used the 2230 M.2 socket.

The confirmation of Steam Deck’s user-replaceable SSD is definitely good news for gamers as Valve’s upcoming hand-held device come in only three storage options: a 64GB eMMC variant at $399, a 256GB NVMe SSD variant at $529 and a 512GB NVMe SSD variant at $649. Since the Steam Deck is being marketed as a portable gaming device with the ability to run Windows-based PC games, the lower end models do not have the storage capacity to store multiple AAA titles.

Valve has delivered on its promise to give a lot of mobility to its users by confirming that users can install custom operating systems on their Steam Deck consoles, unlike other companies. In addition to that, the confirmation of a user-replaceable SSD is definitely going to please a lot of buyers.

However, the company does not recommend users replacing the SSD and there is still no official comment on warranty concerns regarding any upgrades or repairs if a user replaces the SSD.

Valve’s Steam Deck is set to release in December this year in the US, Canada, European Union, and the UK, with plans for “expanded regional availability” sometime in 2022. As of now, the Steam Deck is not available in India and we will have to wait on Valve’s official statement to confirm whether or not it will sell the device in India.