Predict the price for the Steam Machine

[Mummelmann]

JRPGfan said:

Mummelmann said:

Voted 800 to 1000, but I think some top models might go over 1000. The highest spec Steam Deck costs around 680 euros, that's already close to 800 dollars, there's no way a capable "home console" from Valve will be cheaper than that at top spec. I think the entry level machines might be 750-800$, heck; that's just Xbox Series X money (the 2TB version starts at 800 dollars). I think people are seriously underestimating how expensive hardware has become in the past 4-5 years. Flagship phones are now 1500 dollars and up in price. RAM alone has doubled in price in the past year or so (the 64GB kit I have cost me 290 dollars in July of 2023, it now sits at over 600 dollars).

I won't be surprised to see a top model for around 1200 dollars, with some knick-knacks thrown in for good measure (or special edition ones with panel art from big releases).

Its dead on arrival if its 800$.
They do that, it won't sell except as a novelty item for the rich and bored, perhaps the most curious and loyal steam users. 

The hardware inside is not worth that much.
The gpu is less capable than a AMD 7600.
Its a older 6c/12t amd cpu...

Machines like that, don't cost 800$ to put together yourself.  There are videos of people showing them doing it for like 500-550$.
If valve can't even beat out the prices of end users buying random parts from online shops that make profits selling hardware to consumers...
Yeah I refuse to believe that.


Its "looks" cute in design.... how much leeway that gives in pricing is up to each person to decide. 
I still think, unless they sell it very close to prices of hardware inside, the PC crowd will ignore it.
(that is for the low end, or console guys. High end PC users with like 5090's won't care about this little 7600 like gpu micro pc at all).
  

I picked a few equivalent parts at stores here (Sweden) and ended up at around 700$ for GPU + CPU + RAM alone, I would easily end up at or over the 1000$ dollar mark in total for a "Steam machine" DIY build here. Prices have gone insane. And, as mentioned, look at the price of Steam Deck - the OLED model costs around 800$, there's no way they'll sell a much more capable machine for 25% less, or even lower. 

With tariffs, chemical taxes (yes, we have those around here), insanely inflated RAM prices, and the remnants of the GPU gold-rush keeping prices high across the board, hardware is very expensive, especially in some regions. There's no way I can see Valve selling this for as little as 500-600$, despite what we might want or think. As for value proposition, if the smartphone era has shown us anything, it's that perceived value has very little to do with actual cost and everything to do with image. 

Other prices for comparison (in this region of the world):

Switch 2: around 600-625$
OG Switch: 450$ (OLED model, but still)
PS5: Slim Digital - 680€, Pro 2TB - 1030$
Xbox: Series S - 470$, Series X - 690-750$

With the above pricing in mind, and aforementioned prices of hardware in general, there's simply no way or scenario where I can see the Steam Machine being sold for as little as 500$, or even 600$.

Would it be DOA? It's entirely possible, Valve have tried and failed at this before, and they've never been a hardware company. Valve has never made any one piece of hardware that sold very well, they're mostly niche products for a select few customers. Lacking the same name in the space of pre-built or all-in-one solutions, I think Valve might have a hard time making a big impact on console demographics regardless of pricing, I'm not sure this is their plan to begin with. If I were to guess, this is all about selling peripherals, handheld machines, and getting new users on Steam to drive traffic and game software purchases (all sales on Steam benefit Valve greatly). The vision might not differ all that much from Microsoft's - create incentives to get customers on the software side, first and foremost, Valve is a software company above all.