Valve has finally released pre-order details for the Steam Machine and, as many feared, it's a pricey bit of kit. Even the cheaper of the two models will cost more than $1,000, but before the cost of RAM went through the roof, Valve intended to charge a lot less for its new cubes.

After revealing the Steam Machine earlier this year, things seemingly started to get a little more complicated for Valve. The PC-console hybrid didn't arrive as quickly as some had anticipated, and Valve admitted that pricing was something that would need to be revised with component costs going through the roof and every other major console company raising the price of their hardware.

The Steam Machine Was Originally Going To Be A Lot Cheaper

Valve

Valve was coy about revealing its pricing plans for the Steam Machine ahead of launch, and now we know why. However, it was noted that the Machine's internal price hike was similar to the one that the Steam Deck recently experienced. That's how IGN concluded that, if we were living in a fair and just world, the 512GB Steam Machine would cost roughly $750.

Less than a month ago, Valve raised the price of the Steam Deck by a lot. Once the OLED model of its handheld gaming PC had been restocked following a period of supply failing to meet demand, the price of a 512GB Steam Deck went from $549 to $789. A $240 increase, and it was reported in the days that followed that even at that price, the Steam Machine would still be more expensive.

The Deck's Price Hike Reveals How Much The Steam Machine Was Supposed To Cost

That has now been confirmed to be true, and since the Steam Machine underwent a similar price increase before its original price had even been revealed, IGN has deduced that Valve originally planned to sell the 512GB model for $750. It has done that by calculating the price increase, arriving at a roughly 36 percent price hike.

It was actually closer to 44 percent, but for the most part, the same math still applies.

When you apply the Steam Deck price increase to the cost of a 512GB Steam Machine, the price drops to somewhere between $700 and $750. Let's assume that Valve planned on rounding the price up to a neat $750. Still expensive, but far more palatable than the four figures it will now sell for.

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That $750 price tag is also notable because it puts it right there among the consoles the Steam Machine will compete with. It costs between $600 and $800 to buy a new Xbox Series X right now, and $650 for a new PS5, although naturally it's considerably more if you want a PS5 Pro. The Steam Machine costs more than all of those options, including the Pro, which seems ill-advised, although I'm sure pre-orders will still sell out immediately.

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Steam Machine

Brand Valve Operating System SteamOS 3 (Arch-based) Processor Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP Resolution Up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K@60Hz HDR Support Yes Original Release Date 2026 See at Steam Expand Collapse