Valve’s recent Steam Deck price hike has me worried about the upcoming Steam Machine, and for good reason.
The Steam Deck OLED was easily one of the best values in PC gaming. While it was not the most powerful handheld out there, it had the right mix of price, ease of use, SteamOS, and a fantastic OLED display that was a vast improvement over the original’s LCD. All that made it easy to recommend, especially to people who wanted PC gaming without dealing with Windows on a handheld. Whenever someone asked about getting into PC gaming but didn’t want to spend too much money, it was always my first recommendation.
That value argument is a lot harder to make now. Valve has not only increased the price of what was once one of PC gaming’s best deals, but also pushed it dangerously close to devices that are more powerful.
Valve has raised the price of the 512GB Steam Deck OLED to $789, while the 1TB model now sits at $949. The hardware has not changed. No faster chip, no new screen, no bigger battery, no redesign. Instead, Valve says the higher pricing reflects current component costs and global logistical challenges....
