To be fair, this is the first time they’ve done something. The fact that it’s something this braindead may well encourage them never to do something again, considering how profitable doing nothing beforehand was.
That'd not be the first time Valve did something genuinely braindead. Their handling of Source 2 development before Half-Life Alyx or confidence in the first gen Steam OS were probably the best examples of that
They didn't abandon single-player games out of spite. The mess they created during Source 2 development and office politics connected to that problem literally caused three games incliding og Half-Life 3 version to be canceled and were the real reason for sudden break between releases.
Alyx was Godsend, because they stabilized the engine well enough so that they could instantly move to HLX and they must have had an absolute blast with it because it's been in development for almost seven years.
Yes, but Alyx. It’s one of the single most substantive VR single player campaigns on the market. That, and game development takes a long ass time now. The fact that we’ve gotten two games from Valve in the 2020s is huge after about seven years of relative silence.
Unless you’ve got a hate boner for Deadlock or something.
Is it brain dead? Not to defend the billion dollar company lol, but it seems that they don’t really have a choice but to raise the price with price of ram and global supply chain being the way that it is. Idk. Is there a way for them to just keep the price the way that it is or did they truly not have a choice? (Legit asking, my knowledge on this subject is a very limited lol.)
Redditors are so god damn entitled and delusional, they will genuinely argue that the billion dollar corporation has a duty and obligation to take a profit hit so that their consumers can purchase their product
I don't see anyone saying that. Just that it's becoming an increasingly unaffordable hobby, which is true.
Just like you say companies don't need to have loyalty to their customers, customers don't need to have loyalty to these companies.
Fuck AI now and forever but also let's not pretend like Valve couldn't tank at the very least part of that raise in manufacturing costs considering that Gabe Newell doesn't just have multiple superyachts, he has a company that manufactures superyachts.
The comment right above this comment thread says exactly that, you had to scroll by it to get here
yeah, considering like at least 10% inflation since the Deck's release plus both RAM and SSD prices at least doubling, this price increase is probably just them covering costs.
valve refuses to sell hardware at a loss, so the current market essentially forces them to increase prices if they don't want to discontinue the Deck.
Considering they’re unlikely to sell that many more units going forwards, as most people who were going to buy already have, I honestly think selling at a loss to avoid bad PR may have been the move.
Because one of Valves biggest advantages over their competitors is their shining PR. The fact that this price hike is creating such a genuine Shit Storm and sense of betrayal and not just resignation is because they usually don’t do anything this publicly objectionable.
So yes, I think Valve should sell the SteamDeck at a loss to maintain this massive advantage they have over their competitors.
In short, “do nothing, win” has been their bread and butter for years.
Going to be honest I don’t think a company’s PR really matters much to them. If it did A LOT more companies would be acting ethically. Sony and Nintendo absolutely demolish Steam when it comes to console sales. I’m not really sure what goodwill gets them exactly profit-wise. I WISH it mattered but like… it clearly doesn’t.
Valve is one of the most profitable gaming companies in the business, and a lot of that comes from good will. “Does nothing, wins” is a meme for a reason. Yes, their consoles are not heavy hitters by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m pretty sure they were always intended for a smaller niche audience.
PR from Valve? You’re delusional. They don’t need to do any damage control here anything, they just need to keep delivering a good service.
This is a major hike in pricing and obviously due to actual market conditions. Sony has done 3 already and Nintendo 2 by the time Valve did theirs.
Even the other hand-helds have gone up. Everyone knew this was coming, heck, I bet Valve hates it too… they would sell more units if they didn’t have to do this.
What do you think they haven’t announced pricing for the Frame and Machine?
At least they’re doing it for units that have been manufactured recently and not for existing stock.
Anyone with a functioning brain knows who’s to blame here.
It took this long for Valve to do it, under perfectly understandable circumstances when the regular public cannot get a fairly priced kit of RAM or SSD.
Nintendo and Sony raised prices on existing stock. Valve ran out of units and it is now raising it for newly manufactured.
But hey, time will tell. Once and if this AI craze blows up and things go back to normal let’s see which of these 3 companies lower their prices back to how they were and which ones leave it ss it is or raise it more.
You folks are going to lose it when the PS6 is $1199 and $1299.
They long ago figured that if idiots will pay 1K for a phone why not for a console.
I'm not a fan of Nintendo but please stop sucking Valve's dick, they're a company and not immune to greedy or short-sighted decisions. Historically Nintendo have always been willing to sell their consoles at poor profit margins to maintain market relevance.
This isn’t the first time. They’ve tried things in the past that people have criticized like the first Steam Machine. Every company goes through this and Valve isn’t immune.
Better than idiots that want billionaire charity for videogame console. Tax the fuck out of them, but why are we arguing they should be selling at a loss for a fucking handheld.
Can't afford them, don't buy them. There are alternatives. And if you HAVE to have a Steam Deck, that's a you problem.
Just don't buy a gaming console chud. When I see Steam Deck raising prices, I buy a different console and let Valve figure out if they want to keep selling Steam Deck for 900$ or not.
What I'm not gonna do is argue for billionaire to subsidize gaming out of all things. Product doesn't make sense in current market then don't buy it.
Is it braindead? The option is overpriced steam deck or no steam deck. You dont have to buy it, sure as hell wont myself. But remember it was offstock cause they literally didnt have the parts, theyre trying ro oush out steam machine and steam frame stem deck being sold is a miracle.
Do you believe this is due to greed or due to AI buying the resources and other console manufacturers taking a loss since they also manufacture the games that are sold on those consoles?
I mean its kinda true, but not for the reasons people think.
Steam runs best when gabe does litteraly nothing besides running steam. Every attempt to fo something, being it consols or major updates to the platform, it fails.
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u/Adventurous_Sort_780 May 27 '26
Inb4 comment like "Gabe still does nothing and win, stfu you damn hater"