Valve revealed the Steam Machine earlier this month. A small cube that plays PC games which can be plugged straight into your TV. It’s effectively a console that lets you access Steam. However, now that Valve has started to comment on how much the Steam Machine will cost, people are starting to wonder who its PC-console hybrid is even for.
The one thing Valve didn’t tell us about the Steam Machine was how much it’s going to cost. That led to rampant speculation and some educated guesswork. Some think it might cost $500, while others are leaning closer to $1,000. While the exact price is yet to be revealed, Valve has now confirmed the Steam Machine will be priced like a PC since it will be built from PC parts and aim to deliver the same level of performance you’d expect from a decent gaming PC.
All we know for sure about how powerful Valve’s new cube will be is that it’s six times more powerful than the Steam Deck.
There’s No Chance This Thing Costs Less Than $500, Is There?
Valve officials did note that it still wants to be competitive, but it feels a lot like those comments have poured cold water on any expectations that the Steam Machine might cost less than $500. With that in mind, and after quite a bit of excitement and even a dash of hope upon its reveal, some are now starting to question who the Steam Machine’s target audience is.
Valve Says The Steam Machine Is More Powerful Than What 70 Percent Of Players Are Using
The Steam Hardware Surveys gave Valve a solid benchmark for the Steam Machine.
YouTuber IAmRobTV succinctly summed up the problem many highlighted with the Steam Machine’s potential pricing into two bullet points. “Too expensive for most console users. Not powerful enough for most PC users,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that if it’s priced like a PC, why wouldn’t somebody just buy a PC?
Even Larian director Michael Douse is a little confused by the potentially high price of the Steam Machine. “I know subsidising hardware is unfashionable now, but surely they’re losing far more than a ~200$ difference by not having people on the storefront, which is essentially a money printing machine,” Douse tweeted.
It’s a fair point and, pricing aside, something you’d assume Valve wants. More people using Steam means more people buying games on Steam, which is how Valve makes its money. Making the Steam Machine appealing to an audience that either rarely uses Steam or doesn’t use it at all seems like a no-brainer.
Douse does note that it’s not necessarily smart to price things at a loss, of course, which might be what Valve would have to do to get the Steam Machine down to $500. However, the money it might make from games sold through the Steam Machine would almost certainly make up for that.
TechLabUK has taken Valve’s comments and estimated how much a Steam Machine might cost based on how much it would cost to build a PC with similar specs to what we’re expecting from the new PC console. The total comes to $579, or $758. If the Steam Machine’s price does hover around the $750 mark, that would make it the same price as a PS5 Pro. A very hard sell for console gamers who could just buy the newest and most powerful PlayStation for the same price.
- Brand
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Valve
- Operating System
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SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)
- Processor
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Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
- Resolution
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Up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K@60Hz
- HDR Support
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Yes
- Original Release Date
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2026
