Steam Machine Price Warned by Valve to Increase in the Future

Valve has warned that the price of its new Steam Machine hardware is likely to increase in the future. After months of anticipation, the Steam Machine finally launched at the end of June. Unfortunately, the device ended up being far pricier than many initially expected as a result of ongoing shortages of tech components that greatly increased manufacturing costs for Valve. And while the price of the Steam Machine has already been a sticking point for many when it comes to picking up the platform, it sounds like its price is only going to keep going up.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat explained that the cost of manufacturing for tech products is still getting much worse over time. Current prices for products like the Steam Machine are said to actually be trailing behind the present costs of components by nearly half a year. As a result, as time goes on, Valve seems as though it might have to tweak the price of the Steam Machine once again in order to keep up with these fluctuating costs.

“Honestly, it’s still getting worse,”  Aldehayyat said. “What people are seeing on retail shelves right now, from our observations, is lagging what we’re seeing from a bulk supply by at least three to six months.”

Although Aldehayyat didn’t outright confirm that the Steam Machine is going to get an increase to its price soon, the notion that manufacturing costs are only getting steeper suggests that it’s only a matter of time until Valve is forced to make a difficult decision as a way of keeping up. This was most prominently seen just a few months back with the Steam Machine, when Valve increased the cost of its popular handheld between $200 and $300 for its different iterations.

With all of this in mind, if you’ve been on the fence when it comes to purchasing the Steam Machine, you’d likely be better off buying it now. Currently, the Steam Machine itself is selling at a price of $1,049 for its 512GB version, while the 2TB edition is selling at a considerably steeper value of $1,349. Valve is also offering bundles for the Steam Machine with its new Steam Controller, which are going for $1,128 and $1,428.

The biggest hurdle when it comes to buying the Steam Machine at the moment is that Valve isn’t readily selling units directly to customers. Instead, anyone interested in purchasing the hardware has to sign up to be put on a waitlist, which will then lead to Valve reaching out to selected users in time with the opportunity to buy the Steam Machine. As such, if you want the Steam Machine and still haven’t signed up, you’d best do so sooner rather than later.

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