Of course they would not sell it at a loss. That would be a very bad idea, because unlike consoles, this is not a closed system. People can buy the device and never spend a single dollar on Steam games. So Valve cannot count on making money later like console companies do.
The real question is if Valve is willing to make only a tiny profit, so the final price can stay low for buyers. But even that has limits. Estimatives on the parts inside it, make the device cost around 430 dollars. If we pretend those prices will not change soon, even though we already know memory is getting more expensive, and then add average shipping and handling, which is usually around 20 percent, we end up at about 520 dollars.
Now it all comes down to how much profit Valve wants to make. Currently, most estimates put that consoles hardware operate with around 20 percent profit. If Valve does the same, the price would be about 630 dollars. But if they follow the normal PC profit margins, which is around 35 percent, then we are looking at around 700 dollars.
At 630 dollars, it already becomes too expensive for people who might buy it just on impulse. At that point, it is more for fans who really want it. At 700 dollars, it would probably only appeal to the most dedicated fans.
In my opinion, the best price for something like this, if they want strong adoption, would be around 550 dollars at most. And obviously, the lower the better.
