If you want to buy a Valve Steam Link, now may be the time to do it, as it looks like Valve may be phasing out the hardware in favor of focusing on its mobile Steam Link app instead. In a post on the Steam forums, Valve said that the supply of Steam Link boxes in Europe had been completely emptied, while stock was starting to run low in the U.S.
"Moving forward, Valve intends to continue supporting the existing Steam Link hardware as well as distribution of the software versions of Steam Link, available for many leading smart phones, tablets and televisions," Valve said in a statement.
The Steam Link hardware is a small, unimposing box with an Ethernet port, an HDMI output, and a few USB ports. It allows wired and wireless connections to your local network so that you can stream Steam games from a gaming PC or laptop to a connected TV screen. Valve also has an app that lets a smartphone function in much the same way, or steams the games to itself instead.
The Steam Link features dedicated hardware to the task so is a little better suited to it, but the device never really took off, much like Valve's Steam Controller. It has bugs, lag issues, input problems, and crashing issues that made it far from a perfect solution, especially with games that were rather visually intensive. Because of that, Valve seems to be ditching the hardware and moving over to mobile development exclusively.
However, it has pledged to continue supporting the Steam Link for those who already own one and want to continue using it in the future.
At the time of writing the Steam Link can be had on Steam for $60, but stock does seem to be running low.