The current technological and video game news is marked this week by two very clear things: ‘GTA VI‘ on the one hand, Steam Machine on the other. Both have something in common: controversy over the price. In the case of the Rockstar game because the 80 euro edition feels cut. In the case of the Valve machine because the price of 1,039 euros seems very inflated.
And we don’t know if Rockstar had a gun to its head to set that price, but we do know that Valve had no option with the Steam Machine. Basically, it was an offer they couldn’t refuse.
The situation is what it is. We have already spoken at length about the different editions of a Steam Machine that has hardware that is not cutting edge, far from it, and that comes with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage for 1,039 euros. If you want 2 TB of SSD, you have to spend 1,359 euros. The control, in both configurations, is separate.
And the problem is that Valve has found itself launching a machine at the worst possible time, one in which the consumer components segment is destroyed because everything goes to the gluttonous AI industry. The problem is that they had to release the announced machine no matter what (they announced it in November), so they had no other options. Almost…literally.
Questionable tactics. It’s no secret that Valve has found itself in deep water with the Steam Machine. A few weeks ago they asked (half jokingly, half seriously) help getting RAMwhich confirmed an open secret: if the machine was lagging, and if it was going to be very expensive, it was because of the RAM and the SSD. Gamer Nexus is one of the best hardware analysts on YouTube and his video about the system is all you need to see if you’re interested in this product, but it’s also interesting for one reason: Valve has done what it can. Or what they have left him.
How they collect in Kotakuin a moment of the analysis comments on this matter, stating that Valve confessed to him that they had not been able to obtain any juicy contract with any RAM/SSD seller. The Valve employee’s phrase is devastating:
“Look, there are no contracts. There is nothing. These guys are… they give us a price every month and then they say ‘you can buy this amount’ and it’s a yes or a no. And if we say no, they never talk to us again.”
It makes sense. Because of that huge limitation, the Steam Machine being sent for review has a single 16GB DDR5 RAM module, but the motherboard actually has capacity for a second module, so it’s easy to imagine future Steam Machines with two 8GB sticks instead of one 16GB because that’s basically what they can access.
And the saddest thing about it is that it makes sense. Valve is the king of video games on PC, it has its great gaming platform in Steam with benefits and power like no other player in the sector. However, in the world of hardware, Valve is a nobody. You are not going to make huge or constant orders with the deck or the Machine, so no manufacturer is going to associate with them to “price them” and be able to have a cheaper machine on the market.
In the end, and in a much clearer summary, Valve is not Apple, it is not Samsung, it is not a company that is going to put millions of devices on the street and that, therefore, has room to negotiate better prices and payment conditions. In fact, even those giants are having problems.
and what remains. This whole situation with the Steam Machine is a bummer, whether you were interested in the machine or not. It is something that reflects the first actions of more than a decade ago were a monumental fiascobut with the success of the Steam Deck, now they have wanted to take the bull by the horns and be the ones to launch the Steam Machine, but they have been caught out by this whole situation.
In fact, they have already hinted that they were planning to launch it between 800 and 900 euros. In recent conversations they have pointed out that if we look at the price increase that Steam Deck has sufferedthat difference is what we should cut from the 1,039 euros to have an idea of the price at which they wanted to sell it.
It is no excuse, of course, in the end this is Valve’s problem, but the reality is very different: we are the users who are having to face more expensive technology and those of us who cannot access computers (basic for many of us) at the prices that existed before the NAND chip market exploded. Oh well, we have to continue creating slopewhich is the important thing.
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