Steam Deck owner surprised by repair cost after puppy disaster

After discovering that his puppy had destroyed one side of his Steam Deck, the owner was pleasantly surprised by the affordable cost of repairing the device.

Those who own a young dog are most likely familiar with the risks of keeping items within their reach that they may want to gnaw on.

GegeTheGreat, a Redditor, unfortunately learned this lesson the hard way when their 11-month-old puppy Pebble managed to get ahold of their Steam Deck and proceeded to chew up one side of it.

In the post, it was mentioned that Pebble utilized the charging cable to bring the deck closer and also chewed on the controller grips, rendering some of the buttons (r1, r2, r4, dpad, and b button) dysfunctional. The individual also mentioned that they have reassigned these buttons for specific games, but it can be inconvenient and uncomfortable due to the plastic material.

Upon posting, the individual shared their recent job loss and financial constraints which prevented them from affording a costly repair. However, they were pleasantly surprised to learn about Valve’s stance on Right to Repair and their availability of parts for self-repair.

The OP questioned, “Are these four parts from the I fixit website all I need to purchase when contacting Steam? Surely it can’t be that simple, can it?”

As a Redditor in this situation, one would either need to return the device to the manufacturer for an expensive repair or take a loss of $300+ and buy a new one.

However, Valve has collaborated with iFixit to provide both the necessary replacement parts and step-by-step instructions for replacing them. By following this approach, OP will only have to spend $60 and an hour of their time to repair the damaged Steam Deck.

The ability to repair the Steam Deck is a major factor contributing to its popularity since its launch.