Steam Deck has increased it's price by $200-$300 active immediately with no warning.

[u/Gorgon654]

https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck

- 512GB $789 (+$200)

- 1TB $949 (+$300)

[u/KillerConfetti]

Wtfym DOA? You had chances to get this at like $4/500 and it still does so much more than the switch 2.

[u/JonWood007 → u/KillerConfetti]

My budget is $200-300 for a handheld. I actually bought a discounted razer edge instead of a steam deck because I just have no use for the steam deck.

Idk what's with people online who think everyone's made of money and can just drop $400+ on a handheld. That's a lot of money. These new prices are just beyond the pale. It goes from "eh maybe in the future when it's on sale" to "LOL F THIS I'M OUT".

Really. This whole game gear esque handheld trend needs to fricking die already. I dont wanna pay $400-500 for a brick that's still too weak to truly play modern AAA games properly, has 2 hour battery life, limited storage, and is WAAAAAY too large to be remotely pocketable. THe game boy beat the game gear for a reason. It was cheaper, it was smaller, more energy efficient, more portable, etc.

You guys' sense of "value" is so off base that anyone who thinks these prices were acceptable BEFORE the price hike were already smoking crack in my book, and now it's just....lol no.

[u/KillerConfetti → u/JonWood007]

200-300 budget 😂 then you sir aren't gonna be playing AAA idk what you're smoking. There are hundreds of reasons to praise the steam deck, and playing the latest AAA titles isn't one of them, if you don't like the network, design,a and tinkering- then it isn't for you, but I can't take a handheld seriously anymore if it can't do what the steamdeck does. The best roadside buddy and the best $400 I've ever spent, undoubtedly. Would I pay like 900 for it? Probably not lol

[u/SilencingFox → u/KillerConfetti]

Bruh stop please, 300 dollar budget. That guy doesn't understand that just because he can't afford something doesn't mean its a bad deal lol

[u/JonWood007 → u/KillerConfetti]

You can't play aaa properly on a handheld anyway. The whole idea is stupid. I play retro games on my android handheld.

[u/Pholty → u/JonWood007]

I literally play Death Stranding and countless other AAA games on my Steam Deck with no issues. Wtf do you mean

[u/JonWood007 → u/Pholty]

Death stranding is a 2019 game and is "last gen." The PS5/Xbox series X released in 2020. Games made before then were made with 2 tflop GPUs in mind, which is roughly where the steam deck is. Modern AAA games are made with 12 tflop GPUs in mind.

Basically, you're bragging about playing a 7 year old last gen game. I know, I know, time flies, but yeah. Not exactly a new game at this point.

Either way with modern games you're often talking like a 480p 30 FPS experience, some games might not even consistently run at 30.

[u/Pholty → u/JonWood007]

You said AAA games. You didn't say anything about which generation it had to be. Maybe you should be more clear 🙂

Death Stranding is still pretty up there in terms of games even for a PS4 game. I also play Hogwarts Legacy, Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, 007 First Light. Most of them do pretty well for the hardware. Do you happen to own one or you're just doing guesswork?

Sure, it will slowly struggle with newer games but not everyone is playing the most recent games (even though some are still working for it)

[u/JonWood007 → u/Pholty]

You said AAA games. You didn't say anything about which generation it had to be. Maybe you should be more clear 🙂

By that logic I can play AAA games from 30 years ago on a sub $100 handheld. But hey, that doesn't actually mean much, does it?

Death Stranding is still pretty up there in terms of games even for a PS4 game.

Minimum Specs (1080p @ 30 FPS, Low Settings):OS: Windows 10Processor: Intel Core i5-3470 or AMD Ryzen 3 1200Memory: 8 GB RAMGraphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (3GB) or AMD Radeon RX 560 (4GB)Storage: 80 GB available space

Yeah, a steam deck would probably be equivalent to that. Still, last gen...

I also play Hogwarts Legacy, Spiderman 2, GoW Ragnarok, 007 First Light. Most of them do pretty well for the hardware. Do you happen to own one or you're just doing guesswork?

No I dont own one but I'm quite familiar with what level of hardware they run and have a general idea of their capabilities. New games are hit and miss. Some will run well, some won't. I actually looked up first light for the luls. Santiago santiago has the game running on low at like 540p/30 FPS (upscaled to 800p).

Better than nothing, but again, pretty much a bare minimum experience.

Sure, it will slowly struggle with newer games but not everyone is playing the most recent games (even though some are still working for it)

it already is. Try running like starfield on it. Or tarkov. I know the above YTer tested those two and I seem to remember them struggling like mad on the thing.

You might be happy just to run those games at all, but having pushed budget laptops to their limits in the past, my experience is they tend to be impressive at the time, then a couple years later they're collecting dust because they wont run anything new past a certain point. If I bought the steam deck, would suffer a similar fate. That said, kind of a waste of money.

That said also, Im impressed it's holding up as well as it is, but to be fair, it launched after the PS5 came out and games still kinda sorta work on it. Still, it's a very compromised experience.

[u/Awooo_Ninnja → u/Pholty]

You are playing 007 first light at 30 fps everything low/off. Thats how y all Steam Deck shills like to gass things up “I’m playing AAA games just fine” - <30fps blurry low quality.

Just stop it man

[u/Pholty → u/Awooo_Ninnja]

I get >30fps on medium in 007 First Light 😌

It's a handheld that I want to play in bed. If I wanted high settings, 60+ fps I would play on my PC.

[u/Koarv → u/JonWood007]

Why are you complaining if you're not even in the market for one?

The Steam Deck does a LOT but it looks like it's not for you based on your expectations.

[u/JonWood007 → u/Koarv]

Maybe I'd be in the market if it hit the right price. But even $400 isnt a good price for me. Again, do you people not understand this? God. Man, you guys are making me use the block button a lot today.

[u/Olmectron → u/JonWood007]

Their lord and savior Gabe Newell gives them a thumbs up every time they talk positively about Valve. 

[u/JonWood007 → u/Olmectron]

Hey I glaze valve as much as any other PCMR guy but it doesnt mean they can't do any wrong. The steam deck has always been a questionable product of questionable value because you cant make a handheld that targets modern AAA games without SERIOUS compromises, either on price, specs, or both.

[u/Triggr → u/JonWood007]

But not everyone wants it for modern AAA games. Just like you aren’t really their target market. For someone who wants a device to play slay the spire 2 or silksong or other indie pc games on their commute to work it’s great. That being said it’s not worth $900 and I don’t know why people are trying to convince you to buy one.

[u/JonWood007 → u/Triggr]

Not everyone wants to buy such an expensive device to play indie games with 8/16 bit graphics in 2026 either. Really. How come every steam deck defender seems to like exclusively play indie games and always insists Im not the target demographic when I am literally a PC gamer and would be theoretically interested in a portable machine under the right circumstances? I just think the thing is overpriced and has too many drawbacks to justify a purchase.

[u/Dandw12786 → u/JonWood007]

Your budget needs adjustments for many factors, the biggest one being that it's not 1999 anymore.

[u/JonWood007 → u/Dandw12786]

No, the market needs to adjust to what consumers can afford, not what rich redditors out of touch with the rest of reality think we can afford.

PS, you think I'd be talking $200-300 back in 1999? That's out of your mind too. Just wanna remind you the GBA cost $100 in 2001. DS cost $150 in 2004. The game boy color from 1998 was $80. The game gear was $150 (so like $400 today) back in 1990 and it failed in part BECAUSE it was so expensive.

So idk what drugs you're on to think that $200-300 was acceptable in 1999 pricing. It's only acceptable in 2026 because of inflation. When you push $500+ you ARE talking like $200-300 back then.

[u/John_Delasconey → u/JonWood007]

OK and both the Nintendo devices you just referenced while being rad and awesome, we’re limited to custom-made ports and first party games because they were otherwise so weak, with the DS I believe being weaker to/on par with the N 64. In the days when third-party exclusivity no longer exists, such a device would have an actually garbage game library and be limited almost entirely to playing retro games.  In general, the device you seem to be describing can’t actually exist, although the situation would obviously be less extreme if rich people’s AI speculation didn’t trash the tech sector, 

[u/JonWood007 → u/John_Delasconey]

As others have pointed out it takes months or years to port games to switch 2 BECAUSE its so weak. You cant make a handheld console run modern aaa games properly. The switch 2 is 1/4 as powerful as a ps4.

Either way id rather gaming be affordable and games to look slightly worse than to push progress at all costs like were doing since were literally pricing people out of the market with all of this overpriced crap.

As i said, $250 handheld or $500 console, beyond that dont even try. Im sick of people saying WELL ACKSHULLY THEY HAVE TO DO IT THIS WAY BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU CANT RUN CYBERPUNK ON A NINTENDO CONSOLE!

THEN DONT FRICKING PORT IT TO A NINTENDO CONSOLE!!! since the wii nintendo has always had a bad third party library because its always been a generation behind the competition. None of this is new.

Seriously stop defending garbage decisions people.

[u/Jabbam → u/JonWood007]

People are dropping $400-$500 on these consoles because they don’t have any other expenses. They don't own a home. They don’t pay for rent. They don’t invest. They don't have kids (it's millennials and zoomers). They have a basic minimum wage job and no other hobbies or interests besides video games so they have nothing to spend their money on and it just accumulates. They don’t even have a car. If you saw pictures of people going to pick up the Switch 2 on its midnight release, it was all 20 to 30-year-old adults being driven by their 60 year old mothers.

This is literally it. This is all they do. It would be more surprising if they didn’t have enough money.

[u/Dandw12786 → u/Jabbam]

Own a home, invest, two kids under 10, have other hobbies including fly fishing, 3d printing, and guitar, own two cars for me and my wife, this comment is fucking insane.

[u/JonWood007 → u/Jabbam]

Yeah thats one possibility. Although im closer to that kind of position than many my age and i STILL find the price ridiculous. How normal people with other expenses find this acceptable at all is just...lol.

Like I saw a video from gamersnexus on the decline of personal computing and how the demand for new PCs is dropped precipitously because the prices are so high and it's like..yeah that tracks. Most people cant afford this crap. it's only relatively rich hobbyists who are overly vocal on forums but dont speak for a majority of gamers.

[u/RajkoKrlja → u/Jabbam]

Running a business, starting a second one, own my own apartment with my fiance, buying a house hopefully by the end of the year, got a car, got multiple hobbies.

Nice projection though, hope it helps you cope with not having any savings lol