Oof. Ouch. Yikes. We now have an official price for the Valve Steam Machine, a pre-built console-esque gaming PC that’s meant to live in your living room instead of under your desk — and it will cost you more than twice the price of a gaming console.
Here are the eye-popping numbers:
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Steam Machine 512GB: $1,049
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Steam Machine 512GB with controller: $1,128
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Steam Machine 2TB: $1,349
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Steam Machine 2TB with controller: $1,428
The device will go on sale starting June 29, and you can register for one now on Valve’s store page.
Valve’s price reveal coincided with several outlets sharing their reviews and impressions of the device based on pre-launch testing. The Verge, for one, found it to be a quality device, but with performance that roughly matches that of a PS5.
Mashable Light Speed
That’s not the worst review in the world, though it needs to be emphasized that the PS5 is currently $599 and launched six years ago. On the other hand, the Steam Machine can play a wider variety of games (and do other PC-centric things, so long as you’re tech-savvy enough).
Valve would not sell this device for more than $1,000 if it had any choice in the matter. PC hardware components have become exorbitantly expensive thanks to the push for AI data center reconstruction, a phenomenon we’ve come to refer to as RAMageddon.
A memory chip shortage is affecting everything in tech right now, and Tim Cook has admitted it will raise the price of Apple products. Even the aforementioned PS5 costs $100 more than it did at launch.
In short, Valve launched what seems to be a very good device … at the worst possible time.
