A Steam Deck owner who messaged Valve support to buy a replacement case after their newborn ruined it got something they didn’t expect: a free one.
The case for owning a Steam Deck OLED has always been that Valve actually seems to care about the people who use the thing. So when a Reddit user wrote into support last week with a pretty ordinary request, that reputation had a chance to prove itself.
Their newborn had been sick in the official carry case and ruined it beyond saving. The owner just wanted to know if they could purchase a new one, but what came back floored the subreddit.
Valve shipped a free Steam Deck case after a newborn destroyed the original
“I was wondering if it’s possible for me to buy a new Steam Deck case?” the owner wrote to support. “Unfortunately my newborn was sick on my case and it’s sadly now ruined. I really love the case so I would prefer sticking with the official case if I can.”
Support responded by telling them: “We’ve submitted an order to have a Steam Deck 512GB OLED Case replacement part sent out to you.”
Valve has a customer for life
byu/AHappyGummyWormx inSteamDeck
The post landed in r/SteamDeck and did what these things always do: it made the internet briefly, genuinely warm.
“Many larger companies have hit the point where they consider themselves above needing to care what the customers think,” one commenter wrote, “presuming they’re at the level of being a necessity.”
Another, who works at a small regional chain and apparently spends his shifts giving away road salt to strangers, reflected: “Life is hard enough, and everyone is constantly conditioned to make it harder for each other.”
IndieGameJoe offers to buy gamer new Steam Deck after console accidentally run over by car
Valve finally restocks Steam Deck OLED but with massive price increase
Whether any of this survives Valve’s expanding hardware ambitions is a reasonable thing to wonder about. Despite the overall positive launch of the Steam Controller, the Steam Machine is still delayed, and the Steam Frame is somewhere in the pipeline.
This isn’t the first time the Steam Deck’s durability and Valve’s approach have made headlines together. One owner wrote to Valve after their Steam Deck survived a house fire, and the community reaction was nearly identical. If you find yourself in a less dramatic situation, the repair costs through Valve’s iFixit partnership have surprised people in a good way too.
