Valve's Steam Machine pricing will take after PCs, not consoles
Two weeks after the announcement of the second generation of Steam Machines, Valve addressed concerns about the undisclosed pricing, putting it more in line with the current PC market than the cost of a console.
The discussion took place in the Friends Per Second podcast. Valve developers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Lawrence Yang didn't mention a specific price, but did provide some insight into what the industry can expect.
"I think that if you build PC from parts and get to basically the same level of performance, that's the general price window that we aim to be at," Griffais said. "Ideally we'd be pretty competitive with that and have a pretty good deal, but we're working on refining that as we speak."
According to the official Steam page, the "level of performance" mentioned is centered around a "semi-custom AMD desktop class CPU and GPU" that aims to deliver 60 FPS at 4K resolution with FSR upscaling.
The developers said external factors have led to this being a "hard time" to decide on a specific price. RAM, for example, has been on a steady increase in recent months, with industry officials pointing to a demand from AI data centers as the biggest cause (via The Verge). According to PC Gamer, some models are seeing a 150 percent increase and more in price compared to how much RAM cost as early as this past summer.
When asked whether the Steam Machine will be a subsidized device, meaning that Valve would price its hardware at a loss in order to grow market share or category, Griffais re-stated that pricing is "more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market."
Meanwhile, game consoles keep getting more expensiveAs Valve continues to be discreet about the exact pricing of its upcoming hardware, the standard console cost is also shifting over time. Throughout 2025, all major console manufacturers increased the prices of consoles, and this surge has also affected accessories, games, and subscription plans.
For starters, Sony raised the price of the PlayStation 5 in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, EMEA, and the United Kingdom back in April. This ultimately impacted the US in August, with each console seeing a $50 price hike due to a "challenging economic environment." Now, the standard PlayStation 5 costs $549.99, the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition costs $499.99, and the PlayStation 5 Pro goes for $749.00.
Then, the Nintendo Switch 2 has remained at its launch price point of $449.99, but the company adjusted the prices of the Nintendo Switch in August, impacting the base, OLED, and Lite models. A number of Switch 2 accessories were also impacted, the changes being made to account for shifting "market conditions," according to Nintendo.
Lastly, Xbox has been steadily increasing prices pretty much across the board. In May, the company bumped console and controller prices in all eligible markets worldwide, while announcing that some first-party titles would begin retailing for $80, the latter being a decision that was then backpedaled by the company ahead of the launch of The Outer Worlds 2.
But it didn't stop there. In September, "macroeconomic conditions" were behind a second console price increase. Now, the Xbox Series S costs $400, and the standard Xbox Series X goes for $650, compared to their starting pricing of $300 and $500, respectively.
Last month, Microsoft announced a rework for its Xbox Game Pass subscription service alongside a 50 percent increase for its Ultimate tier. Moreover, Xbox Developer Kits have reportedly seen a 33 percent cost increase from $1,500 to $2000.
