V announced today that Steam Deck’s hand-in-hand is going to increase prices significantly. In its statement, Steam stated that all new OLED models would formally restore stock after months of stock availability, but that the price would be increased as a result of the increase in memory and storage prices.
The entry level 512GB OLED Steam Deck was sold at $549 at current prices of $789; the upgrade 1TB OLED Steam Deck was sold at $649 at current prices of $949. According to V, “this price adjustment reflects the current rise in hardware costs and the global logistics challenges facing the industry as a whole”.
Refurbished version of the LCD Steam Deck handheld, sold through the Steam Game Shop, remains at the same price, but is still above the original price. The current prices for the renovation of the 512GB and 1TB OLED editions were $629 and $759 respectively. A refurbished version of the CCD Steam is still a good option if it can be accepted with a slightly lower configuration. The sale price of the 64GB LDC was US$ 279, 256 GB LDC was US$ 319 and 512 GB LDC was US$ 359.
Steam Deck has been popular with players, partly because of its high value for money. High-quality, easy-to-play experiences are provided while prices are relatively pro-people. Following the price increase, Steam Deck sales may face even greater challenges, especially as it is close to the Ally X-Handing machine (sold at $999.99), which was launched jointly by Xbox and ROG.
With the exception of the V Society, all three KMS (Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo) have increased the price of the host under the flag, a situation that has been extremely rare throughout the history of the game industry.
Meanwhile, there is growing concern among players that Steam Machine, which is still unsold by V, may be overpricing. Valve has not yet published the price of Steam Machine, which has given rise to wild speculation. As the host of the living room PC, some would like it to be at least cheaper than PC, even if it is more expensive than Xbox or PS5. However, increases in costs such as RAM may make it difficult for Valve to achieve this goal. As Steam Deck went up sharply, it is not hard to imagine that Steam Machine will also be affected.
Steam Machine is expected to be sold during the year. It is not clear when Valve will publish the date of sale or pricing information. It appears that Valve is still waiting until a final pricing decision is made, but the time left for them is running out unless the company wants to postpone the new hardware indefinitely.
