With just over a week to go until Valve’s Steam Deck begins to roll out, the company has detailed its plans for replacement parts. Thankfully, those plans include giving Deck owners easy access to replacement parts. That means enterprising gamers will be able to fix and replace parts of their Deck that break. Valve didn’t provide details on what parts will be available just yet. The company said it is still figuring out the details. Check out the full statement from Valve below.
Hi all,
Hope everyone’s doing well – 10 days and counting until launch day! We have some exciting news to share. If you watched our Take a look inside Steam Deck video (aka the “please don’t do this” video), you may remember we said certain Steam Deck replacement parts would be available for purchase.
Today, we’re announcing that iFixit will be one of the authorized sellers of Steam Deck replacement parts – as well as replacement parts for the Valve Index VR products. We are still hammering out the details, and will be sharing more info on this soon.
And in case you missed it, don’t forget to check out iFixit’s teardown of Steam Deck just posted today.
Valve
iFixit’s teardown of the Steam Deck revealed a very repairable device. Officially, iFixit gave the device a 7/10 repairability rating. That’s excellent compared to other modern electronics, particularly phones. For reference, iFixit’s repairability rating puts it right between the Nintendo Switch and Switch Lite. The former was given an 8/10 and the latter a 6/10.
The repairability of portable electronics has been improving over the last couple of years. Right-to-repair movements have been gaining steam and the environmental impact of devices that can’t be repaired has been under scrutiny. Various governments around the world have been looking at right-to-repair laws for consumers. Apple made headlines last year when it said it would provide replacement parts for iPhones. The company announced that it would be making official parts available directly to consumers for the first time. Valve is following this growing trend by providing Steam Deck parts via iFixit.
