If you buy a piece of consumer technology, then it skyrockets in value well after it initially launched — like a portable PC that can double up as a PS5 — you should go to bed dreaming of sheep perpetually jumping over fences with massive dollar bags under their wooly bits, right?
Wrong! In the case of the Steam Deck OLED, I was lucky enough to buy one during its launch week back in mid-November 2023 for its decidedly reasonable MSRP of $649 for the 1GB model. Fast-forward 2.5 years later though, and Valve’s handheld PC would now cost me in excess of $1300 on Amazon.
That’s because Steam Decks have been unavailable due to stock shortages on the Steam Store for months at time of writing. And it’s all “RAMaggeddon’s” fault. On behalf of everyone who can’t currently get their hands on a Deck, it makes me angry that global memory shortages have encouraged extortionate third-party prices.
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Why is the Steam Deck currently so expensive?
Once again, AI is to blame for hardware shortages
Credit: Dave Meikleham \ MakeUseOf
The long and short of it is this: Steam Decks are currently out of stock due to RAM and storage shortages. As such, with Valve being unable to manufacture new units, used Decks are being peddled on eBay and through Amazon third-party sellers at embarrassing prices.
The main reason Valve can’t produce the Steam Deck at time of writing is because global RAM shortages are at an all-time high. With companies hoovering up memory in bulk to keep AI data centers consuming all the information, RAM prices have predictably gone through the roof.
Manufacturers aren’t just prioritizing selling RAM to companies heavily invested in the future of AI, they’re also selling these firms masses of SSD storage. This is another reason why trying to hunt down a Steam Deck is currently as challenging as trying to beat a cheetah in a footrace when you’re weighed down by lead clogs.
Yet another factor trying to pick up a Steam Deck in 2026 is a nightmare? Valve discontinued the launch LCD models in late 2025, meaning the only version you’re going to be able to buy going forward is the superior, and more expensive Steam Deck OLED.
Valve need to restock ASAP
If Steam Deck is to keep momentum, it needs to become readily available again
As I write this, the Deck has been unavailable on the Steam Store for months. Annoyingly, Valve hasn’t updated its storefront to reflect these stock shortages. Whether hopping onto Valve’s store on your laptop or a PC that costs more than a car, it’s frustrating to see the House that Gordon Freeman built so heavily leaning on Deck promotion, even though it knows it can’t fulfill orders.
A huge part of the reason the Steam Deck caught everyone by surprise when it catapulted to success shortly after launch in early 2022, is because it was both accessible and affordable.
Skip forward four years, and while the fantastically intuitive SteamOS ensures the former remains true, third-party retailers trying to part you with $1320 for a secondhand OLED model means the value proposition has since been obliterated.
The Steam Deck is a fantastic budget handheld PC. But it’s also exactly that: a dyed-in-the-wool budget system. The OLED version might sport an impressive 7.4-inch, 90HZ HDR screen, but said panel is also only 800p (1280 x 800). Its 6nm AMD Zen 2 APU (with 8x RNDA CUs and 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM) is hardly cutting-edge either.
At current prices, the Steam Deck isn’t worth it
The entire handheld PC market is currently messed up
Credit: Dave Meikleham \ MakeUseOf
If the 512GB Steam Deck OLED was currently available at the $549 price point it first launched at, I’d recommend it without hesitation. That’s simply not the case, though. Valve’s handheld PC is damn difficult to recommend in the current climate, simply because you should never pay far above the official launch MSRP for any tech device.
I can’t even recommend a viable alternative. As I continue to write this piece, my eyes want to water every time I open up an Amazon or Best Buy tab and see that either the Asus ROG Ally X or Lenovo Legion Go 2 are either out of stock or are going for silly third-party prices.
There are big reasons you should think twice before upgrading your GPU right now, and because of RAMaggedon, you also shouldn’t pick up a handheld PC while prices are so skewed by outside factors. Worldwide memory shortages have ensured it’s currently ludicrously difficult to pick up a Steam Deck for reasonable market value. That makes me legitimately angry as someone who paid a fair price for his palm-friendly Valve device.
Don’t buy a Steam Deck until the market levels out
At some point in the future — hopefully before Skynet gains sentience and nukes us into oblivion — RAM prices will fall back to Earth. When this happens, the Steam Deck OLED should go back to the sort of price bracket that it launched at in 2023. If it does, that’s when I’ll suggest you buy the most accessible handheld PC on the market. In the meantime, I’ll continue to feel guilty about owning an OG OLED model that’s currently worth over $800.
