Club Benefits
Price hikes come for us all and Valve just announced a significant price increase for the Steam Deck, which is finally back in stock.
The 512GB Steam Deck OLED now costs $789, up $240 from $549, while the 1TB variant now costs $949, up $300 from $649. As of this writing, both models are available for purchase from Steam.
The LCD models are completely missing from the product page as they were officially discontinued late last year. Additionally, while refurbished OLED models are on offer for the original prices, the LCD versions are still listed as out of stock.
According to a blog post the new prices "reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry." Valve specifically blamed rising memory and storage costs in the announcement.
Valve is just the latest victim in the ongoing AI-greed festival that is RAMaggedon.
More expensive than a PS5 Pro
Amazingly, this price hike makes the Steam Deck one of the most expensive consoles on the market now. In fact, it's more expensive than Sony's PS5 Pro, which currently starts at $899 after its own price hikes earlier this year.
Even among the best handheld gaming consoles, the Steam Deck may not be the quality value pick anymore.
Here's how the new Steam Deck price compares to other consoles like the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X and the Nintendo Switch 2.
Console | Price |
|---|---|
Steam Deck OLED (1TB) | $949 |
Steam Deck OLED (512GB) | $789 |
Nintendo Switch 2 | $449 |
Asus ROG Xbox Ally X | $999 |
Asus ROG Ally | $649 |
Lenovo Legion Go S | $989 |
PS5 Pro | $899 |
We looked at similarly specced handheld consoles here. The Asus ROG Xbox Ally comes in different storage sizes, including a 4TB one. For this comparison, we looked at the 1TB variant.
Honestly, at these prices, it might be better to pick up the Xbox Ally X. It's newer than the four-year-old Steam Deck and the Xbox streamlined Windows OS is a breath of fresh air, plus you can still use Steam.
Not confident about the Steam Machine
Valve has yet to announce a release date or pricing for the Steam Machine, it's living room PC-console hybrid. One of the worries surrounding the console has been about pricing especially since the memory shortage has made life difficult for manufacturers.
If Valve is pushing Steam Deck prices this high, I have concerns that the Machine might be similarly priced or more expensive. Which would defeat the purpose of the device in the first place.
At that point, it would be better to buy a pre-built or source your own parts for a gaming PC. The Steam Machine would be dead in the water.
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