We knew the Steam Machine was coming sometime this year, and we’re not really surprised about the eye-watering price tag it carries.
We’re not too shocked about the revelation that it could have been up to 33% cheaper, as revealed by Valve engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat to IGN. They noted that it would have “probably” been similar to the Steam Deck OLED before the recent price increase.
The latter becoming costlier by quite a big margin was a fairly bitter pill to swallow. But that didn’t stop many customers, apparently, since the handhelds’ latest batch of inventory was sold out fairly quickly despite the revised price tags on them.
While it remains to be seen whether the Steam Machine will fly off the metaphorical shelves as quickly as its portable pals, it still rankles to know it could have been closer to $750, which would have made it quite a strong competitor. Valve clearly thought so too, and it looks like it couldn’t find a way to avoid passing on those additional costs to its consumers. What a time to be alive and to be a gamer.
The first wave of Steam Machines will be dispatched on June 29th, and you can currently reserve your own until June 25th. Unlike previous reservations, those chosen are completely randomized to avoid issues with bots, scalpers and whatnot.
