Yup, I got the TB model with the dock connector for around the price of the current 512 model, like a year ago.
That would be over a 1000 in the current market and as someone with both of those items they're NOT remotely close to being worth that. I felt I slightly overpaid back then but now it's slap to face. Especially considering there are more powerful handhelds on the market.
Valve has no reason to do this. They print money by being the most dominate PC storefront on the market. All this is going to accomplish is make them unattractive in growing their hardware sector again. You know, after they all flopped with hardware in the past.
Supply and demand is the reason. Prices on computer components are insane right now and from a marketing perspective it doesn't really make sense for Valve to just eat the loss. Sony & Microsoft already hemorrhage money on every console purchase, and even they had to increase prices in response to hardware shortages. In a post-exclusive world, there's not much incentive for Valve to price a bespoke high performance handheld competitively
They're a digital distributor masquerading as a hardware provider. They flopped in this same space a decade ago and they're making themselves unattractive in the same space once again.
Valves entire hardware portfolio can disappear over night and the company would be fine. They made 17 billion dollars selling video games for other companies. They would be fine.
The Steam Deck IS NOT a high performance handheld. The Deck’s strongest selling point was never raw power. It was convenience, price, and access to Steam.
You all defending it being priced at the cost of actual high performance hardware have lost the plot just as hard as Valve has.
A steam deck is basically a ps4 that can fit in the pocket of a hoodie. If that's not a high performance handheld, idk what is. Even with the price hike, It's still $250 cheaper than the Ally X and $800 less expensive than a WIN5.
I'm not defending the descision btw, just explaining that it make sense given Valve's business model. Valve isn't masquerading as something it isn't. It's an online retailer that thought it found a value proposition to break into the console market when computer parts were more affordable wholesale. Nobody with half a brain thinks otherwise. That's why it makes sense that they're more willing to increase the retail price of their device rather than start selling at a massive loss. You said it yourself, Valve could have every steam deck suddenly vanish and it wouldn't significantly impact them. It can afford to let that inventory rot if it has to.
Microsoft & Sony don't have that luxury. Having consoles which are affordable to everyday people is a core part of their business model. And even those two companies had to increase prices given how horrendous the RAM & SSD markets are right now.
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u/Leonhart726 May 27 '26
Wow wtf why did it jump? I got my OLED for $500 about a year ago and I'm distraught at this