Yep, the Steam Deck OLED going out of stock is due to the AI-fuelled RAM and storage shortages, Valve confirm

RAMnarok continues to ravage the game box component pipeline

As feared, the recent uptick in Steam Decks being noted as out of stock is down to the ongoing memory crisis. RAM prices have been driven through the roof by AI companies gobbling up memory sticks en-masse, with the other downside of that being the tech's very scarce at the moment. Cue companies like Valve stuggling to keep on securing as much as they need to make and sell hardware without interruption.

"Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages," reads a fresh note Valve have added to their Deck salespage, right alongside the established mention of the 256GB Steam Deck LCD no longer being in production.

So, you might still be able to grab an OLED on any given day, but don't be surprised for the foreseeable if you're greeted by a notification telling you that none are available where you live right now. I say for the foreseeable because there's no obvious end in sight for the RAM shortage as of writing.

That's the RAM shortage which has recently led Valve to delay the Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame's releases from "early 2026" to the more nebulous "in the first half of the year", offering more time to secure components which keep being shovelled into AI infrastructure. AI infrastructure which has a chance of either vastly improving the world in ways us mere mortals can't concieve, or more likely falling on its arse and blowing a hole in the world economy so big it could mirror 2008's infamously catastropic bubble-bursting.

In the meantime, questions as to whether you'll be able to get ahold of a Deck when you go to buy one or how much you'll pay for the Machine whenever it arrives remain up in the air. PC-specific hardware's not alone in that uncertainty, with Bloomberg reporting the other day that console makers Sony and Nintendo are considering pushing back the PS6 and raising the Switch 2's price respectively, both as a result of RAMnarok.

What wonderful times, eh?