Steam Deck just got a price increase, and a big one. This has led those hoping to one day own a Steam Machine to fear the worst about its still-undisclosed price, and apparently those people have every right to fear.
The Steam Machine will probably still cost more than the Steam Deck
According to hardware analyst Brad Lynch, the Steam Machine will cost more than the Steam Deck, even after Valve's handheld price hike this week. “When I was told the number for Valve's estimated cost [would be]they had to set the Steam Machine's initial price was still higher than today's Steam Deck prices,” Lynch wrote after Valve dropped its Steam Deck bombshell.
Lynch adds that they heard this two months ago, which may mean things have changed. However, if anything, things will change for the worse, not the better. In late April, after Valve confirmed plans to release the Steam Controller ahead of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, Lynch shared that he was told that the planned pricing for the Steam Machine had changed due to the ever-increasing cost of RAM.
The 1TB Steam Deck is now $300 more expensive
Wednesday's price jump means The 512GB Steam Deck OLED is now $789and up from $549 while the more powerful 1TB OLED edition of the handheld now costs a whopping $949which is a $300 jump from the original $649. The Steam Machine has a silver lining, but it's thin. Vavle is expected to release several models, so depending on how much storage you want, it might not cost you $1,000 to own one.
The smallest Steam Machine is expected to be a 512GB model. It's unclear if the prices Lynch mentions mean the model will be more than the current $789 512GB Deck, or if even the smallest and cheapest version of the Steam Machine will cost more than the most expensive Steam Deck. If that's the case, then we could be looking at at least $1,000 to own a Steam Machine of any description.
Unfortunately, Valve isn't immune to rising RAM prices, which have forced every major console maker to charge more for their hardware. PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo have all done so, with the latter set to raise the price of the Switch 2 this September. The price hike has already gone into effect in Japan.
However, none of these price jumps were as significant as the one that just went through the Steam Deck. My guess is that after the Steam Deck sold out earlier this year, Valve pushed production more to meet demand, and the cost to produce a Steam Deck is much higher than it was a few years ago. To be optimistic, maybe the Steam Deck was priced this way so the Steam Machine might not be that expensive, though I'm not holding my breath.
- Mark
-
Valve
- Operating system
-
SteamOS 3 (based on the architecture)
- Processor
-
Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8GHz, 30W TDP
- Resolution
-
Up to 4K @ 240 Hz or 8K @ 60 Hz
- HDR support
-
Yes
- Original release date
-
2026
