TL;DR: Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine, set for release in 2026, aims to combine affordability and ease of use. Recent leaks suggest prices around $950 for a 512GB model and $1,070 for 2TB, comparable to high-end devices, though official pricing remains unconfirmed amid memory supply challenges.
I hope not, that’s pretty terrible pricing for what you’re getting.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With the current market, I’m not sure how much you can upgrade your current PC for less than that.