Summary
- Valve raised basic Steam Deck OLED prices from $550 to $789.
- The price change makes the overall value of the Steam Deck harder to justify.
- Prices for the Steam Machine are expected to rise, as well as prices across the industry.
The Steam Deck has been one of the few bright spots in PC gaming hardware over the last couple of years. While graphics cards kept getting more expensive and gaming laptops drifted further into “luxury purchase” territory, Valve’s handheld managed to hit a sweet spot. It was powerful enough to play modern games, but cheap enough that people could actually justify buying one. That’s changing, though.
Related
I ditched Windows for SteamOS on my PC, and gaming is way better now
SteamOS is ol’ reliable when I want a Linux-gaming experience at this point.
The Steam Deck just got a massive price hike
Value is out the window
Credit: Dave Meikleham / MakeUseOf
When the original LCD Steam Deck was released in 2022, it was the talk of the town. A PC gaming handheld that was under $500 and could play almost all of your favorite PC games, no matter where you took it. It was a dream come true for many PC gamers who wanted to get away from their PC for a minute but still be able to enjoy their favorite pastime.
In 2023, Valve followed that original with a new OLED model, which had slightly better specs overall, though nothing mindblowing. Now, three years later, though, the value that the Steam Deck offered appears to have been completely killed off thanks to the ongoing shortages in RAM and other computer components. Not only has the value of the Steam Deck skyrocketed in used markets, but now Valve has even raised the price of its own stock to compensate for the ongoing shortages. (via CNet).
Now, if you want to buy the 512GB Steam Deck OLED, the device will cost you $789 before tax. Previously, it was available new from Valve (at least when in stock) for $550. That’s a pretty big price difference, especially for something that often requires you to run many games in specialized graphics modes or on very low settings to play with stable performance.
The Steam Machine’s future just got a lot less certain
Valve will really need to make it look good
Credit: Valve
But the Steam Deck’s price hike is more than just a direct look at how Valve’s approach to the handheld gaming market is changing. Yes, the over-$200 price increase on the Steam Deck means the value-gaming moniker that made the Steam Deck so appealing is dead and gone now. Furthermore, it doesn’t bode very well for the incoming Steam Machine.
At this point, building a PC that costs more than a car isn’t really a running gag, as the shortages have led to price hikes all across the board. However, the Steam Machine had the perfect opportunity to come in and do what the original Steam Deck did for handheld gaming — prove it was viable even at an affordable level. However, rumors about the Steam Machine’s price have already started to pop up, and things are not looking good.
Reports from Vice say the Steam Machine will probably cost more than $1,000. However, with Valve jacking the price of the Steam Deck up so much — for hardware that is not over three years old, might I remind you — my hopes for an affordable option with the Steam Machine are dwindling even more.
In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Valve dropping the Steam Machine with a $1,500 or higher price tag at this point. Especially if it has specs that are remotely better than the Steam Deck (which it will). Even then, there’s no telling how many more changes we might see to the prices across the industry before the Steam Machine drops. But if trends continue, it likely won’t stay even remotely affordable for very long. And that’s the troubling news. Because affordable hardware is getting much harder to find, and this recent price hike is just another example of how far away we’re moving from it.
The good news is, you can probably just build your own Steam Machine instead. Assuming you have the pieces lying around already.
Brand
Valve
Screen
7-inch touchscreen (1280 x 800, 16:10)
Processing Power
AMD RDNA 2 with 8 Compute Units, up to 1.6 GHz
CPU
AMD Zen 2: 2.43.5 GHz
Battery
40 Wh, 5-8 hours
Connectivity
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C, 3.5 mm audio
