An Early Prototype of the Steam Deck Was Sold on eBay

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Before the Steam Deck was released, Valve went through many iterations before getting to the version of the device we have today. These different versions may not have made the cut, but they helped Valve develop the Steam Deck we all know and love today. While most of these older versions are with Valve, it seems one of them got out and was recently sold on eBay for a whopping $3,000!

The eBay listing, spotted initially in a post by Reddit user Gary_the_mememachine, was sold for $3,000 yesterday at 9:30pm. The seller didn't specify how they got the handheld, but mentioned that it is an early version of the handheld that has no OS installed and circular touchpads. They provided multiple different photos as well, which show the general layout, which is very reminiscent of the current Steam Deck, with some slight differences like vent and back button placements, and a missing joystick.

Two of the photos shown also show the seal on the back, which notes that this is the 34th engineering sample of the Deck. It also notes that this model isn't for resale, which was ignored completely, unfortunately.

There is no guarantee that this is a legitimate version of the early Steam Deck, but I do believe its validity. Looking at the digital booklet that Valve released when the Steam Deck came to Asia countries, I can see a model that looks almost identical to the front of the hardware that was sold on eBay. I put a red rectangle around the model that looks the most like the one sold on eBay, but it does match the color scheme, handles, and overall look.

I do hope this person was given permission to sell the handheld, since it wasn't meant for resale, but it's still interesting to see more images of an early prototype in the wild!

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