Since its launch in 2022, the Steam Deck has consistently ranked near the top of the best-selling products by revenue on Valve’s chart. It temporarily dropped out of the top 10, which was treated as a newsworthy event. However, it appears that sales of the popular handheld gaming PC have sharply declined since its re-release at a higher price in May.
According to Boiling Steam, a gaming website focused on Linux, historical data shows the Steam Deck’s chart position fell from 5th place right after orders resumed in late May to 14th place by early July. The latest charts indicate the hardware slipped to 12th place by December (source).
This decline contrasts sharply with 2025, when the Steam Deck consistently ranked no lower than #7 on the bestseller chart, rarely leaving the top five. Valve warned of “intermittent shortages” starting in February, which contributed to the Steam Deck’s drop in rankings for several weeks before it became completely unavailable until May.
Boiling Steam has conducted behind-the-scenes calculations to estimate unit sales for Steam Decks based on revenue-based chart positions. By analyzing average selling prices and estimated weekly game revenues, it suggests that Steam Deck sales may have plummeted by approximately 80%. Estimates show weekly sales have dropped from 11,000 to 18,000 units in 2025 to just 1,400 to 3,000 units currently. While there is fluctuation in these estimates, such numbers indicate a significant slowdown in mobile gaming device sales, with total estimated sales reaching 4 million units within the first three years.
Source: arstechnica.com