Right here’s one thing odd. Over on eBay somebody appears to have spent $2,000 on a Steam Deck prototype which was being offered on the public sale website for $3,000.
As reported by SteamDeckHQ, Reddit person Gary_the_mememachine noticed an inventory on eBay titled: “Early Valve Engineering 34 Prototype Steam Deck 256GB, Examined, Please Learn!” The itemizing appears to now be misplaced within the backrooms of eBay’s huge and outdated community, however you’ll be able to nonetheless discover it by way of websites that use the digital public sale home’s API.
It seems the gadget, which appears to be like just like a retail Steam Deck however with round observe pads and blue-colored triggers, was listed for $3,000 or greatest supply. Then on April 8, somebody purchased the gadget for $2,000, which the vendor accepted. In the meanwhile, that’s all we all know. I reached out to Valve and the one who allegedly offered the Steam Deck prototype on eBay to see if I might study extra in regards to the gadget or the way it was acquired. I’ve but to listen to again from both occasion.

Trying on the photographs posted to Reddit by person Gary_the_mememachine, the prototype Steam Deck is marked with a label on the again that claims “Engineering Pattern 34.” The back and front of the gadget are formed in another way than on a retail Steam Deck and its upgraded OLED mannequin. It seems to be lacking a proper joystick, too. Oh, and the label on the again mentions that this alleged prototype isn’t meant to be offered. Oops!
SteamDeckHQ additional reviews that the vendor claimed the prototype doesn’t have an OS put in and shared photos of the gadget’s boot display screen with extra details about it.
Maybe that is an elaborate pretend. That’s doable. However I believe an actual Steam Deck prototype was simply offered on-line and I’m curious how Valve feels about that.
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