We already knew that the RAM crisis would affect pricing for Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine console, but several hundred dollar price hikes for the Steam Deck don’t give us much hope for affordability. illusiveman: Well, this doesn’t bode well for the Steam Machine. …
… One does not simply buy a Steam Deck anymore, Meta hiked the price of the Quest 3 by $100 last week, the PlayStation 5 got a price hike, and the list goes on. …
Over the last few months, I’ve written stories with the headlines “Waiting to buy a game console will cost you,” “Everything about buying video games is getting more confusing and expensive,” and “The future of game consoles is looking bleak.” And the costs just keep going up: the Steam Deck is now… …
… But the recent price increases to the Steam Deck OLED — up $240 for the 512GB version, and up $300 for the 1TB version — “should give you a ballpark estimate of how much the Steam Machine’s target had moved,” according to an Aftermath interview with Valve. …
Valve has significantly increased the price of the Steam Deck — but now, it’s also in stock. The 512GB Steam Deck OLED now costs $789, up from $549, while the 1TB model costs $949, up from $649. …
… Now, we just need Valve to share exactly when the Steam Machine and Steam Frame will be released and how much they might cost. After last week’s price hikes for the Steam Deck, I’m gearing up for sticker shock.
… When Microsoft finally woke up to the Steam Deck’s threat of pushing Windows gamers toward Linux, it did so at $1,000 instead of $400, pricing the Xbox Ally X like a PC instead of a console. …
… But even for a company like Apple, the memory crisis is re-writing the rules of consumer tech pricing. First it came for the game consoles: the PlayStations, Xboxes, Switches, and Steam Decks. They all received price hikes, blamed squarely on the memory shortage. …
… Unfortunately, that seems to be the way of all handhelds these days: The Steam Deck got a huge price hike just yesterday. …
… Game consoles are getting regular price hikes, PC components are spiking in cost, and the golden age of affordable handhelds is over, all largely due to the global RAM shortage, which has had a similarly costly impact on PC gaming, including portable devices like the Steam Deck. …