Gabe Newell is reportedly hand-delivering signed Steam Decks throughout Seattle to celebrate the first batch of releases.
Although getting a hold of a Steam Deck hasn't been quite as difficult as getting a PS5 or Xbox Series X, they're still a pretty rare commodity. If you thought that a regular Steam Deck was rare, then you'll be disheartened to learn that there are even rarer versions now out in the wild - ones that have been hand-delivered and signed by Gabe Newell himself.
Reddit user bitfiddler0 had one such story, showing off the signed Steam Deck on the Steam subreddit. Despite having the honour of having a signed Steam Deck, bitfiddler missed out on meeting Gabe Newell due to being at a full-day ski trip with friends. They said, "Got a spammy looking email yesterday saying that a shipment of Steam Deck arrived a few days early and mine can be delivered tomorrow if someone is home to sign for it. I was honestly skeptical and didn't want to get my hopes up too much."
They continued, "Fast forward to today. I told my wife to watch for deliveries while I went on a full day ski trip with friends. The "delivery guy" comes and wife opens the door. He asks "Is Mike (not real name) home?" She says "no but you can leave the package with me..... and what's with the camera crew?" Little did she know that the "delivery guy" was Gabe Newell. Gabe was a super cool and down to earth guy though. He said to email him if she has any feedback (to which my wife replied "OK, but what's your name again?). Anyway, excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall for missing this whole experience".
If you think this is just an isolated experience, several other Redditors have reported that they received signed Steam Decks from Gabe Newell, taking to Steam subreddits to show them off.