Article discusses the effect of rising hardware prices on the deck.
Some highlights:
How much worse has the pricing situation gotten for Valve since November? Superdata Research founder and SuperJoost newsletter author Joost van Dreunen suggested that the 512GB Steam Machine model would probably run $50 to $75 more than he expected when the Steam Machine was announced, and to expect a price “potentially $100+ above target” for the high-end 2TB model. That would mean a $599 to $629 price at the low-end and $849 to $899 for the high-end model, in his estimation.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter agreed that, even with the additional component costs, Valve would likely “try to get it out at $599 or so for the 512GB version,” A starting price higher than that would mean “abysmal” sales, he added. “I think $700 is a death sentence and $1,000 is unsellable.”
I’d recommend reading the article though, it has a lot more of value than just those quotes. It goes on to talk about how the price increases will likely hurt valve more than traditional console makers, and how these increases will affect sales.
They can set the asking price to whatever they want but I have zero interest in the “why” in terms of a high price, which for me is anything over about £450. Anything more than that and it simply isn’t appealing to me. I don’t care whether that’s reasonable or not in terms of their costs. My wallet cannot in any form justify anything more on what is primarily a toy. It’s one of the reasons I don’t have a current gen console but have had at least one from each generation going back to the mid 1990s.
If you ask more than I’m willing to spend, no sale. Sorry, guys.
What is life if you aren’t spending some of it on stuff you enjoy doing? Adults should be able to spend large amounts of money on stuff that is primarily a toy if they enjoy that toy. I get it if you’re saying you literally cannot afford to eat and buy that expensive of a toy, but for most people saving their pennies for long enough warrants buying an expensive toy. It’s also fine if you prefer spending your money on experiences rather than things, but saying it’s an invalid purchase because it’s a toy is pretty silly.
It would be pretty silly to say that, wouldn’t it? Luckily it’s not something I said.
Framing it as depriving myself is an interesting approach, but as much of an egotist as I am, the equation is a smidge more complicated than that. Because I don’t spend money on toys it was not a source of stress when both my wife and I needed some dental work done last month. Sure, I’d like to have fun, but I’d also prefer not to stress about money when big expenses pop up. I spend a bit on myself here and there but I remember the '90s and compared to then I am absolutely drowning in entertainment. It’s truly magical.
…but that means that if an entertainment experience of some kind is priced higher than a certain point then I’m just not that fussed passing on it. My Steam Deck has plenty of life left in it yet!
Valve also said they are not willing to sell hardware at a loss so there is that
As I said, how they arrive at the price isn’t something I care about. They could be making a loss or a killing and it’d be all the same to me.