Valve's Latest Price Update Is Terrible News For Steam Machine

Through no fault of its own, Valve has chosen an awful time to release the Steam Machine. The concept is enticing; a gaming PC running on SteamOS. It's an interesting middle-ground between traditional PC gaming and home consoles, and the device has been promoted as easily transferable between desk and living room, with the latter making use of Steam's Big Picture Mode.

Shortly after it was announced, though, the current component shortage really ramped up. Tech companies are buying up RAM – and CPUs to a lesser extent – to build out AI infrastructure (and damage the environment and ruin peaceful neighborhoods, but that's another conversation) causing manufacturing costs to skyrocket, which is then being passed on to consumers. PlayStation increased PS5 prices, Nintendo is increasing Switch 2 prices, and now Valve is joining the club.

Steam Deck Price Increase Does Not Bode Well For The Steam Machine

Valve recently announced a huge price increase for Steam Deck OLED models. The price of the 512GB version went up $240, from $549 to $789, while the 1TB alternative got an even larger increase of $300. The 1TB OLED used to be $649 and is now $949. It's all the more unfortunate that the Steam Deck OLED is nearly a three-year-old device. Gaming consoles used to get price reductions with age.

Valve increasing the price of the Steam Deck OLED is not a good sign for the price of the Steam Machine, which consumers are already wary of. Estimates have placed it somewhere around $1,000, but if the Steam Deck, which has significantly lower specs, is already approaching that threshold, it's likely the Steam Machine will be well over that. There may be an argument that Valve is increasing the Deck price to offset offering the Machine at a more attractive one, but only Valve would know, and it seems risky from the outside looking in.

A Niche Product Is Only Becoming More So

The Steam Machine will likely sell out initially based purely on Valve's brand strength – the Deck still regularly sells out – but even though it's a good compromise between console and PC, it feels unlikely to be a massive success, and a potential price that's hard to justify won't help. SteamOS providing a console-like experience makes it approachable, but it's still a Linux machine. It doesn't have the versatility of a traditional PC, and still isn't as theoretically plug-and-play convenient as a console.

Another facet to consider with SteamOS is that a lot of new multiplayer games don't play nice with Linux, which tends to trigger anti-cheat software. It's going to be a pretty powerful machine, but there are plenty of edge cases that may keep it from reaching exceptionally wide appeal. There's already a substantial culture around PC building, and being modular is one of the platform's greatest strengths. Valve's Steam Machine can't be tinkered with as much, and may release at a prohibitively high price point now that the Deck is already there.