Peripherals manufacturer Jsaux has announced that it will delay the planned launch of its RGB Steam Deck dock and change the design, claiming that its manufacturing partner leaked the design to a rival company, which then co-opted the design, leading to the decision to withdraw the product. Jsaux claims that a manufacturing partner leaked the design to a rival company and that this rival company co-opted the design, leading to the decision to withdraw the product.

Valve sells its own Steam Deck dock (opens in new tab), but it took a long time to launch and the price, $90, is a bit of a hurdle. On the other hand, you can use any old USB-C hub to connect the Deck to external peripherals, and manufacturers like Jsaux are stepping in to offer a cheaper alternative to Valve's docking station. We're fans of Jsaux's standard Deck dock (opens in new tab), but we recommend adding $10 to purchase the HB0603 (opens in new tab) model. [Jsaux had already sent preview samples of their next Steam Deck product, a variation of the HB0603 with an RGB ring on the bottom and gaming laptop-like decorations on the sides.

In a post from Jsaux (opens in new tab), the company shared a screenshot of a tweet with a blacked out account name that is said to belong to a competitor. The tweet includes video footage of a hardware peripheral with RGB lighting and tags a number of influencers focused on the Steam Deck with the tag line, "Newest Steam deck dock with flash lights. Coming soon!

Jsaux then shared a series of screenshots from its CAD software showing a proposed design for the RGB dock, which dates back to July. The company stated that it filed a patent application for this design in August.

Jsaux claims that a competitor acquired the design through a partner manufacturer, and states that it will produce the product in a different factory in the future.

At this time, it is unclear who Jsaux's unnamed competitor is. A Twitter search and a look at the activity history of the influencers tagged in the tweet does not reveal any trace of this tweet. Nor can we find any imitation docks for sale on Amazon or AliExpress. One of the dealers tagged in the tweet, Steam Deck HQ (opens in new tab), has stated that it knows the identity of the rival company through this connection, but is keeping that information secret, in keeping with Jsaux's wishes on the matter

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Indeed, it is a tangled little thread of corporate espionage around the game, like a very low-stakes version of a William Gibson story. Why Jsaux would pull its product is beyond me; Jsaux is based in China, and I assume its manufacturing partners and rivals are there as well, so it could avoid the difficulties of international copyright disputes, but I am hardly an expert on Chinese copyright law.

In any case, Jsaux intends to return to the drawing board and come back with a new design for the RGB deck, and after a delay of several months, I predict they will have something to offer the market.