The original announcement of the Steam Machine was genuinely quite an exciting moment for PC gamers, where we all imagined a world in which it served as a beefier, less-portable, all-in-one PC gaming setup that ran releases more efficiently than a traditional Windows setup.
As it so often does, reality came home to roost pretty quickly, and the torrid state of the hardware market quickly put the cat among the proverbial pigeons. AI data centers, tariffs, and just about everything in between have sent the cost of PC components sky high, and it's now very difficult to see a world in which the Steam Machine is going to cost anything like players have been hoping.
Over on Reddit, one user shared a post that cited inside information, which would put the price of the Steam Machine at something above the current price for the Steam Deck. In case you missed it, the basic model now costs $789, while the version with increased storage sits at a staggering $949.
That would likely leave the Steam Machine coming in at something above $1000, which is unthinkably more than the early estimates on pricing suggested. As you might expect, there were plenty in the responses who really feel like the product, which isn't even out yet, could already be untenable.
One summed up a lot of the feeling, saying, "I'm really wondering if it'll even come out at this point."
"$1,000+ for a console slightly more powerful than 8th-gen platforms that almost exclusively appeals to a demographic of gamers that already have massive Steam libraries on more capable hardware. Bravo," another added, sarcastically.
While a third said, "What killed the original Steam Machine was the asking price. They were simply way too expensive. For the price of a single Steam Machine, you could have picked up an Xbox 360 and 3–4 new games and 2 controllers. It was that expensive. Now, the new Steam Machine is doomed to make the same mistake and fall into irrelevance. I don’t see it flying off the shelves with authentic consumers."
Valve is yet to really place a specific timeline on the roll-out of the Steam Machine, but the early arrival of the controller probably means we will be waiting quite a while. Prices may normalize somewhat in the meantime, but it's tough to see them going back down to where they need to be to satisfy the expectations of the potential customer base.
