Steam Machine price leak suggests it will cost as much as an iPhone

Micron is altering the contract, pray they don't alter it any further.

I'd expect at least the first wave to not be affected by slopocalypse pricing. To target a 1Q26 release date they had to have contracts well in advance.

Well likely their cost for memory has gone up by a few hundred in the last month or 2

I paid about $450 for mid-range Mini PC and another $450 for a smallish egpu that should match the performance of what's going in the Steam Machine. That was before the Rampocalypse, and I would still expect valve company to have contracted with manufacturers and component packages upstream from the public announcement so I'm still crossing my fingers people can buy these things for sub $1000.

Hot take: I think they should only allow any one Steam account to purchase one or two units total and require at least *one* paid game purchase in the account history, thus frustrating the efforts of scalpers and office businesses trying to get at productivity machines for cheap.

That works out to a $1 USD fee and an extra 3 minutes of effort, if they're going to be cheap about it.

What if I told you it also sucks your cock _while_ doing your taxes?

I expect the €799 to include vat, while the $699 will be without. $930 /1.25 = $744, which is a lot more reasonable. Sony using the same sale price for the whole eu when each country has different vat rates, is probably because of profit maximization. Too many people only look at the first digit in 799.99, so no matter if after currency conversion + vat the price is €720 (20%) or €762 (27% in Hungary), they'll just slap on the sale price of €799.99.

800 Euros is $930 US which is probably close to reality, but the problem is gaming pricing as a rule looks at the number as being comparable without conversion.

So you get sillyness like the PS5 Pro launching at $699 US but £699 and €799. Even though that conversion comes out to be $699 $937 and $930.

I could see them launching at $1,000 US and then trying to go "Well, that's the same as £1,000 or €1,000" when it's not.

Yeah. I've paid $1,000.00 for a solid gaming PC before, and got much worse results than I expect from "A SteamDeck that knows it is plugged in."

Kind of a non-news item, to me.

I'm not buying a new model every year at that price, but if I expect it to last 5-10 years, I'll probably end up buying one.

A bunch of this is going to come down to Valve's build quality, warranty support, and whether these Steam Machine are repairable or not.

I was hoping for a 700/800 euros TBH. 1k is kinda pushed since this is going to be marketed as a console, a kinda underpowered one at that.

Right, though?? I've been expecting like 700-900$ range and have been satisfied knowing that'll be the price! They've proven their hardware slaps and their software sucks the least - I don't meet to know anything else to be sold!

I find it quite interesting that people just put a 500 dollar price tag on it since the first leaks. And now everyone thinks it's too expensive no matter what, because there is no way it's 500 dollars.

Seriously, how was anyone expecting less than $1,000 (plus VAT) *before* the RAM bubble?

Given the current RAM prices anything less than $2,000 would almost certainly be selling it at a loss, or as a kit without RAM, so I expect Valve will just have to cancel it.

Shit's fucked.

Also, that's an easy wish right there. It will 100% be somewhere in between those numbers, don't worry.

That was my joke.

It's just a way to clickbait.

An unconfirmed leak of an estimation puts the price somewhere between 100 and 2500.

I'm tired boss.

Yeah, I read the title and had no idea what number to expect. My first thought was 1.5-2k.

Also, that's an easy wish right there. It will 100% be somewhere in between those numbers, don't worry.

For real! And you see all those comments about "Why isn't it priced like a console?" and I'm like "My brother in Christ, have you SEEN console prices lately?" $600, $650, $700, $750, $800?

Handhelds are even worse.

People are accustomed to consoles being unnaturally cheap, and even as manufacturing costs sky-rocket manufacturers are still eating a lot of that increase because they don't want to lose sales to the competition, and expect they can make money back later on game sales and online service subscriptions.

Valve meanwhile doesn't have that approach, and will be selling the the Steam Box for at least what it costs.

It will be exactly the same story with the Steam Frame - everyone is hoping it will be price-competitive with the Meta Quest but I can almost guarantee it won't. It will be FAR more expensive.

Why? Because Meta are making money back later with advertising, and selling your data, while Valve are just providing a device.

If you want a little privacy, Linux support, and hardware you control, you'll have to be prepared to pay a premium for it.

With the current market, I'm not sure how much you can upgrade your current PC for less than that.

I'm with you on that but the price still seems steep to me.

Agreed. While it seems like we're all still speculating at this point, $1000.00 would be a pill to swallow for couch co-op gaming.

Hopefully if RAM prices drive the price this high, arresting and jailing another batch of RAM producer CEOs can bring prices and the Steam Machine down in price to something reasonable.

I can dream, anyway.

In the meantime, I may still pay the premium just to signal my interest in having a less closed gaming option hooked up to my TV.

I'm with you on that but the price still seems steep to me. Last I heard Sony makes a profit selling the PS5 Pro($750) and the Steam Machine has worse specs (60cu vs 28cu GPU/ 2TB vs 500GB storage).

Personally I was considering getting a Steam Machine over upgrading my PC just to make my life easier. But, not for that much of a premium.

Valve hardware is niche. They have (as of 2024) less than 400 people working there, and surely most of them of Steam and... maybe some games.

I really heard nothing in their presentations and interviews to suggest they have grand aspirations of shifting 10s of millions of units. The Deck I think is considered a success, and still only moved in a few years what the Switch did in a few months.

I think their target demographic is PC gamers who are just not super enthusiastic about the endless hardware grind.

That seems like a niche within a niche to me. The Steam Deck filed a hole in the market, the Steam Machine doesn't. Either way that doesn't explain the high price, last I heard Sony makes a profit selling the PS5 Pro($750) and the Steam Machine has worse specs (60cu vs 28cu GPU/ 2TB vs 500GB storage). Like others have mentioned, the price might be reseller pricing vs buying directly from valve.

I don't think Valve is trying to convert console players. I think (and they've implied) that they're trying to offer what a lot of Steam Deck buyers have been asking for: a more powerful Steam Deck that plays more of their library. That they took a lot of cues from consoles in terms of packaging and design is really more about "the living room" than that specific customer they're targeting.

I could have consoles, and I choose not to because I have a large Steam library and, as OP said, they've earned my trust.

But why buy the Steam Machine over a PlayStation at that point?

I don't buy locked-down hardware, with a locked-down game ecosystem, when open hardware is available, so the Playstation isn't in the running, for me.

If itch.io and the like run on Playstation, that's good to hear. I have assumed that they do not, from what I know of Sony in the past.

Anyway, I'm still pissed about the time that Sony shipped a self-installing Windows virus on their music CDs. I had to wipe and rebuild before my PC felt usable again.

But why buy the Steam Machine over a PlayStation at that point? Your getting worse performance for twice the money. Isn't the SM meant to convert console players, most current Steam users already have PCs. Or am I looking at this all wrong?

There will probably be a hefty convenience tax in the price of the SteamDeck, in exchange for my not having to learn a bunch of facts about graphics cards (which can play what, what drivers they need, how to tune them, which one to buy now that the one I researched is sold out to AI crypto bros, rinse and repeat research steps, AI cryto bro-ed again, etc.)

I know I *could* get a better price, I just haven't found the time. If the Steam Machine comes anywhere close, I'm probably going to (foolishly / lazily) buy one.

Valve bought my trust with my SteamDeck. Let's see if they spend it well when I eventually buy a Steam Machine.

I was disagreeing with the statement "valve doesnt sell hardware at a loss", which applies to more than just the Steam Machine.

I was unaware that they had said this, thanks for sharing it.

I wasnt trying to imply the idea was to somehow take over PC gaming. My point was just that creating new PC users by offering a console like experience will increase Steam sales.

Yes, we do. Valve themselves have said it.

https://tech.yahoo.com/gaming/articles/valves-decision-not-sell-steam-171635100.html

The purpose of the Steam Deck is not to take over PC gaming or lock people into a store. It is to further Valve’s goal of enabling Linux for gaming and reduce dependency on Windows.

See also: Valve putting SteamOS on other hardware and allowing self-installs on any commodity hardware rig. Can I install XboxOS or PlayStationOS on my PC today?

Steam doesn’t need a lock-in. It is the de facto store for PC gaming already. Even Epic giving away free AAA games for _years_ hasn’t made a meaningful dent in Steam’s dominance.

AFAIK neither does Sony currently.

We dont know that Valve doesnt sell hardware at a loss. Its entirely possible the Steam Deck was sold at a loss on release. The only real thing Valve has said about the price was Newell describing it as "painful".

It makes sense for Valve to sell hardware at a loss when breaking into a new market. Any purchases are very likely to lead to more purchases on Steam.

Valve doesn’t sell hardware at a loss. $1k is pretty normal for a phone or laptop these days, and in line with what I would expect from a device like this.

Now, that may be more than you’re willing to pay for it, but I don’t think the price is exorbitant.

The Steam Deck is $650 for the 1TB OLED version.

The Steam Machine reportedly has 6x the power and a 2TB version.

Why is $950 out of the realm of possibility?

It's essentially a specialized gaming laptop without the screen. Of course it's going cost as much as a laptop.

If people want a cheaper alternative, the 512GB Steam Deck—which is weaker than the Machine and also essentially a laptop—costs $550, and it can connect to people's TV's as well.

ALSO: they include a 21% VAT

ALSO ALSO: They have said online that it was just a guess and that Reddit sucks

Especially when this specific retailers has the hight margin of them all, adding like 200$ to their steam deck prices...

Heads-up, the leak was from a non authorized retailer. So this has been confirmed to be more or less a retailers price speculation with added middle man mark-up. Take this leak for what it is, guesswork

"An iPhone" is such a weird comparison to make.

In my region I can buy new iPhones from €119 (iPhone SE 32GB) to €2400 (iPhone 17 Pro Max 2TB).

I hope the steam machine is somewhere in between this range.

I love all the articles going "It's going to cost more than you expect!!!" and I'm like "Really? Because I 'expected' around $1,000..."

It's like people haven't been watching pricing in the last year or so...

Whether it's true or not, I've heard a lot of people complaining about the possibility of a price point like this and it really blows my mind how twisted people's expectations are about these price points. Like people line up overnight for a chance to buy iPhones, the same as the one already in their pocket but with a new function in the camera app or something, and then you get something that is almost an entirely new class of product and far more capable for the same price at a time when we're facing unprecedented shortages, and people are pissed off about it? Double standards much?

I wish it was $200 too, but like, we don't live in that world anymore. I'm sorry, but that world died from Covid and any medicine that could've cured it was lost in trade wars and its corpse was blown up in real wars. It's not coming back.

That’s a few hundred dollars more than I hoped, but because of the slop-manufactured memory situation, I’m not surprised.

"Cost as much as an iPhone", I'm not sure if you're complaining about how expensive the iPhone is or the Steam Machine.

According to the site, the SM will be around $1,100 for the upgraded storage and the cheapest iPhone is around $1,000, so I fail to see the comparison.

Assuming it is around $1,000 that's not a deal breaker. I heard that the leak came from a store in Europe so I would expect the price to be much lower because we won't be spending retail.

In the US a Steam Deck is about $200-$300 more retail than if you buy it direct. So if they says $1,100 then I would expect the SM to be closer to $800, which would be closer to a lowerend gaming PC

No it has not

It is speculation from an unauthorized reseller who is *guessing*.

As expected. It's an expected price. It's a pc for playing in a small cube form. I have no idea why anyone thought it would be cheaper. So many phones already are above that price point.

Not too surprising, subtract around $400 and that’s what the price probably would have been without ram prices exploding.

I was expecting PS5 performance at PS5 Pro prices.

The recent leaks will be including 21% VAT in Czech Republic too. It's about the same as the PS5 Pro in the UK.

It's not a great value proposition, but depends how much you value open source.

This is clickbait. Valve didn't use third-party resellers with the Steam Deck for anti-scalping reasons, and it's unlikely they would for the Steam Deck as well. I'm surprised how many news outlets are leaning into this.

I'm not saying the Steam Machine won't be that price, though I certainly hope it won't be. I'm just saying we shouldn't take a random posting from a random Czech website at face value, considering Valve's established business model.

I've been anticipating $800+, and with storage and ram now, I honestly doubt less than $900. Look at current gaming handheld and console pricing. 1k isn't an insane prediction with current markets.

Is this Valve's way of gauging the market? Cause it sure feels like it

800-900 is what they can ask for it I guess. If it’s more it’s gonna get slow sales, which could be okay as Valve doesn’t really need it the way Sony needs a Playstation to sell.

I don’t think I’ll buy it on release as my Steam Deck is good enough for me alongside my Playstation. I might buy it after its first price drop (if it doesn’t increase instead).

DOA at that price but I don't believe it.

Woof. That's going to be a no for me dog.

This is all assuming that the dollar is worth anything in the future. The way things are going, uh maybe not

Bullshit.

$950 is way too high.

I hope not, that's pretty terrible pricing for what you're getting.

Ignoring that the source is absolute bullshit: If it's that expensive, they can save themselves the trouble of developing, it's dead on arrival.