If you’ve had your Steam client open at any time over the past week, you’ll probably have noticed that Valve are pushing hard for pre-orders of their new Steam hardware. The Link and Controller are now available to order, and ordering now will mean you get to play with them before official release, too.
The only thing is, postage from Valve is a bit on the owch side.
Valve haven’t done a great job of advertising shipping costs on the Store pages for the Steam Link and Steam Controller, so we thought we’d give you a friendly heads-up. If you live in the UK like we do, you’re going to be paying £7.40 per item in shipping. This means the bundle of Steam Link and Steam Controller for £79.98 has shipping of £14.80 applied, making it a steep £94.78.
Valve do say in the small print that “All transport costs and taxes will be disclosed to you prior to purchase,” but you probably won’t see this, and won’t discover the price of shipping until you hit the last phase of the checkout.
Should that feel a little steep, there is another option! Here in the UK, ye olde game shope Game is selling the Steam Link and Steam Controller, too. Yes, you haven’t been into a Game since the original Operation Flashpoint came out, but these guys can help you avoid silly shipping charges. Their bundles are slightly different – the Link and Controller is £99.99, but that comes with £20 Steam Wallet credit, too. You can also buy other bundles with bigger Steam Wallet vouchers.
You can’t buy the Steam Link solo from game unfortunately, so if you just want the box you’ll have to stick with Valve and pay £47.39.
Game do sell the Controller though, bundled with a Steam Wallet voucher for £59.99. Steeper than Valve’s £39.99 plus £7.40 shipping, but once again you do get £20 to spend on Steam.
Pre-ordering from Game will still allow you to get your hands on the hardware before the official release, so you’ll get your new kit on October 16th.