They wrecked the economy so hard that game consoles are appreciating in value.
this post was submitted on 27 May 2026
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Steam Hardware
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Friend has a used car that he's contemplating selling because it's gained value despite the higher mileage.
Meanwhile my launch steam deck just gained value.... wtf
Yes but then what will he drive?
Because the other used cars have also gained value?
Think his car is sort of a limited production so it's gained extra value
Well, here goes the hope for a sub-1000€ Steam machine.
Better buy the Steam controller quickly before AI companies decide TMR sticks are essential to feed the AI machine.
Still waiting for my reservation to trigger… I don’t think they have shipped the second batch.
My partner got the reservation email (did it on May 8) and delivery. While I'm still waiting for the email, even though I reserved a minute after. It's silly
They actually have started. Just googled this an hour or so ago. They started shipping in the EU about two days ago. The people reporting that they got their mails all had reservations a minute or two before starting time.
That's an insane price increase. And it makes me worried for the price of the steam frame/machine.
Annnnd IT'S GONE
Crazy! Universally people saying "not worth it at that price" and yet...
Lower inventory than expected? Extreme FOMO?
Scalpers probably.
Also they're back again
Valve probably needs to implement their waitlist system for all hardware at this point.
But the point remains, if it's "not worth it", who are scalpers gonna sell it to?
I'm happy that I already have a Deck OLED but if I didn't, at this point I'd rather get an Asus ROG Xbox Ally X and install the latest beta of vanilla SteamOS (the beta officially supports it). Not because I'm a massive fan of that thing but because it's cheaper at this point.
Still $999 here, although that's for a more powerful processor. Those grips though, lol.
Here in Germany the 1TB Steam Deck is €919 and the Ally X is €899. Not a huge difference but still.
Oh yeah, I'd put up with weird looks for that + the more powerful chipset.
Still available at the moment
I'm just gonna go live in a cabin. Fuck this tech bullshit world.
Wait til you see the prices of cabins
Daaaaaamn. If I didn't have one already, I would not consider buying it at that price anymore. And I got the cheaper 512 gb model.
At this point, I am doubting the Steam Machine will actually launch. Even on reveal, the value proposition was very questionable and entirely dependent on having an unrealistically low price. I expect Valve will announce "Yeah, never mind. We are just not going to launch the Steam Machine. It doesn't make sense anymore in this new economic climate".
One can just use off-the-shelf components to build their own small form factor (SFF) PC that has basically the same specs as a Steam Machine. Conversely, that is not something anyone can do for the Steam Frame, Steam Deck, or really even the Steam Controller. Even if most Steam hardware is priced absurdly high, someone could justify the price to themselves because the direct competition is just not there. But anyone can build a SFF PC that is equivalent to a Steam Machine. The only people who could justify an absurdly high price for a Steam Machine are the people who NEED a plug-and-play console-like system and can afford a high price. And that is just not a big market.
I share your skepticism, because Valve is definitely in a damned if you do/don't situation. But...
The only people who could justify an absurdly high price for a Steam Machine are the people who NEED a plug-and-play console-like system and can afford a high price. And that is just not a big market.
I'm not sure it was ever a large market. Like I don't think based on Valve's comments during the launch that they were thinking "bigger than the Steam Deck". It really felt like "for the subset of Deck users who want this too, and maybe it'll surprise us." The commentary around price has ALWAYS been "it's going to be too expensive", from the second it was announced, so it's hard to know how much the price will actually impact sales, because so many people want to talk about how they'd buy a thing if not for this one factor who were never ever going to buy the thing.
The pricing is definitely going to be a problem now, there is no way around that. But because I'm the person you are describing, I will say... I'm just over building PCs and the inherent compromises (nevermind that the component prices are crushing that market too). The guy who did the video a few months back was a) in Canada, b) buying shit in parking lots from FB marketplace, c) doing this 6 months ago, before the war. I'm not convinced it could be done reasonably today at some remarkably lower price than whatever you or I think the Steam Machine will cost.
I don't want the ecosystem lock-in of consoles, I already own tons of PC games. I want exactly what Valve is cooking, and not really anything else. Even if it's an alleged better value.
The Steam Machine was always going to have a relatively small market, and that market is only going to get smaller and smaller as the potential price increases.
What is SFF ?
Small form factor
Steam Deck OLED is awesome. Fantastic screen, excellent controls, insane ergonomics, light for long play sessions... even now, with older internal hardware and lessening power versus new games, it's still the best stream-to-around-the-house device on the market, and it's not really close.
But I can't see it still being $789 / $949 USD awesome. My guess is that Valve has decided that they aren't going to run out of Steam Decks again and have priced these accordingly.
My understanding is that Valve was hoping they could wait it out and not have to raise the price. Guess they decided that selling expensive Steam Decks would be better than selling none.
My guess is that Valve has decided that they aren't going to run out of Steam Decks again and have priced these accordingly.
Whelp this didn't age too great ... they're back again but for how long
Ouch, that's rough.
I mean, this is technically better than it just not being available. But those prices are hard to swallow, makes me really glad to already have mine. Really hope nothing happens to it.
The bright side is that Valve partnered with iFixit with the Steam Deck, so if certain parts need replacing, you can do it yourself without it costing too much. If anything happens to the higher end guts, though, yeah, that would be very bad!
I got a refurbished 512GB for $439 a year ago, that is nuts.
What's even available that's competitive? Legion Go 2 prices are absolutely bonkers, maybe the first gen at $849?
MS still had launch MSRP for the ROG Xbox Ally models.
Protecting my deck with my life...
I blame everyone except for Valve. Smart cars, AI, Smart TVs. Anything that has memory or SSDs. I remember when things got cheaper as they got older, not the other way around.
Ouch. I don’t think they’re worth it at those prices, sadly.
doesn't make me hopeful for the frame price
The only thing I'm sad about, because I don't really have much use for the deck or the machine. The Frame looked like a great VR device though, some really nice little considerate details in the design.
Isn't that more than 50% extra compared to when the OLED version came out, I think it was 2023?
I bought my 1TB OLED for 679 euros end of 2024. So at least for that is 35% price increase.
Considering the increase in price, that turned out to be a very good deal. 👍
Rough. Unfortunately Valve can’t shake the RAM or SSD shortage.
Yeah it sucks but imagine spending a good chunk of that on a Nintendo Switch that has built in planned obsolescence and will be a poorly supported brick in a couple of years limited to never surpass the potential the original Nintendo developers could see in the device at an architectural level and set into stone by the mass armadas of copyright weapons that Nintendo deploys.
Does the price difference matter as much when you see it in that light? You can always use your Steam Deck as a computer in any way you want to. You can load stuff onto it using the sd card.... the nonsense is astronomically less with the Steam Deck I just can't imagine thinking the Steam Deck wasn't worth it over the Switch when you actually think about the value either device brings to your life longterm. One is disposable, the other is not.
I hope it doesn’t upset you too much that I own a switch instead of a steam deck and enjoy it
So glad I got mine on sale last year