Yesterday, we told you that Steam Deck was undergoing a major price hike. In just a short space of time, the bill had risen by 35% on the only two remaining configurations of the device. It’s worth remembering that the LCD version has been scrapped, leaving only the console with an OLED screen and 512GB and 1TB memory configurations. But this sudden price hike has raised fears for the brand’s future products, notably the Steam Machine. There were already rumors of a higher price for the Steam Deck two months ago… Before price increase.
Steam Machine: an estimated price already higher than the Deck, two months ago…
It won’t be an affordable console:
So obviously, these are just rumors, but they’re in line with the times we’re living in. Yes, with all the demand around the AI market, memory prices have skyrocketed, and this is reflected in the price of the devices we buy every day.
So, if you were expecting an affordable Steam Machine, you’re likely to be disappointed. Already, two months ago, estimates of the console’s price were higher than that of the Steam Deck: €679 in its 1TB OLED version. With the company’s recent price hike, it’s reasonable to assume that the Machine will be over €1,000/1,200.
Steam Frame also impacted:
The Steam Frame will also be impacted by these price hikes, but probably in a more… Limited. That’s right, as the brand’s future VR headset is expected to carry less memory, the impact will be mathematically less significant. We’re talking here about configurations based on 16 GB LPDDR5X coupled with 256 or 1 TB of storage. In contrast, the Steam Machine is said to feature 16GB of DDR5, 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM and 512GB or 2TB of storage (according to our colleague)… And when you consider that the smallest 2TB SSD is already selling for more than €200, it’s enough to make you fear the worst.
