With just one week left until The Game Awards 2022, Valve has announced a giveaway of one 512GB Steam Deck every minute during the show’s broadcast. The Steam Deck drop celebrates The Game Awards, the availability of the Steam Deck, and gaming as a whole.
Last week, the Steam Deck won Best Gaming Hardware at the 40th annual Golden Joystick Awards, with Valve’s president and co-founder emphasizing the Steam Deck’s versatility and interoperability in his acceptance speech. At launch, manufacturing capacity was unable to meet the overwhelming demand of gamers who were eager to experience the Steam Deck’s capabilities first-hand. However, in early October, Valve announced that customers no longer need to have a reservation in order to purchase a Steam Deck. Since then, more PC gamers are playing Steam’s top titles, including the critically acclaimed role-playing game Elden Ring, on the Steam Deck.
On December 8, Valve will draw one random name per minute from a pool of users watching The Game Awards broadcast on Steam. In order to qualify, Steam customers must be located in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, or the European Union. Only accounts that have made a purchase between November 14, 2021 and November 14, 2022 are eligible to enter the giveaway. Limited user accounts are barred from registration. All those who do register, even if they do not qualify for the giveaway, will receive an exclusive digital sticker of the Steam Pal, a cute animated Steam Deck. Steam users can enter the giveaway via a sign-up page.
After the sign-up process, Steam provides a “set a reminder” function that can send users a notification via email or Steam’s mobile apps — Steam Mobile, Steam Link, and Steam Chat — when it’s time to tune in to The Game Awards. The “set a reminder” function can also add the ceremony to the entrant’s Apple, Google, or Outlook calendar as an event.
Steam users in other regions have lamented not being able to enter the giveaway. However, the Steam Deck will soon be more accessible outside of North America and Europe. In December, the Steam Deck will make its debut in Asia, shipping out to customers in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
On the giveaway registration page, The Game Awards host Geoff Keighley advertised more ways the show is collaborating with Valve in a brief video. “Our Game Awards Hub on Steam will have a special sale as always,” Keighley said, “in addition to playable demos of upcoming games.”
