I Can No Longer Recommend the Steam Deck...

Added: 2026-06-01

[00:00:01]Valve did something I genuinely thought they would never do. Well, I knew they were going to do it at some point. I just didn't think it'd be this drastic.

[00:00:09]The Steam Decks are back [music] in stock. I love the Steam Deck. Let me make that clear. I've owned it since the LCD model launched. I upgraded to an OLED. They're my go-to devices for gaming. [music] So, when I heard that they came back in stock, I was genuinely surprised. When I heard the prices went up, I expected it. [music] But what I didn't expect was how much they went up.

[00:00:28]Now, I want to make something very clear. This doesn't mean I automatically hate the Steam Deck, I still think it's one of the most important gaming devices ever made. What [music] I will say right now though, as someone who wants to give you all the best bang for your buck, I can no longer recommend the Steam Deck.

[00:00:43]But this goes further than just the price [music] going up. There are a lot of other warning signs here that go far beyond the Steam Deck and into the Steam family of hardware itself and even to your favorite handheld that might not be [music] a Steam Deck. Let's get into everything. The Steam Deck when it came out, it wasn't even one of the most powerful devices, [music] but it did bring something we've never seen before to the PC space, at least mainstream.

[00:01:07]Portable PC gaming in the palm of your hand at a reasonable price point that made it so a lot of people can on board.

[00:01:13]The LCD [music] Steam Deck was a massive success again for being a product sold solely on Steam storefront and not in stores. And it brought Linux [music] to the forefront of gaming for one of the very first times in a major way. And the simplicity that the Steam Deck brought handheld wise and everything [music] made it even more clear that with Valve's push into the console market with the Steam [music] machine and the overall best VR device, the Steam Frame, it was a really exciting time and I still do love where they're going, but I am worried. So, about these new prices, [music] we got to break down what exactly they did. So, they came back and they announced that the Steam Decks would be back in stock. We've been waiting a while for this and I know a lot of you have been looking to get your hands on one. But then it followed up very quickly talking about a price increase. And we're not just talking about a little price increase. This is a major price increase. Let's look into it. The 512 GB OLED Steam Deck used to be $549.

[00:02:12]It is now $789.

[00:02:16]This is a $240 increase. But it doesn't even stop there. The 1 TB model was $649.

[00:02:24]It's now $949.

[00:02:28]You are paying $300 more in [music] this scenario. And for my Canadians, these prices go up even more. The 512 GB model in Canada is $1,129 Canadian. The 1 TBTE model is $1,349 Canadian. [music] Now, you can buy refurbished models, but those have gone up in price as well, so you're not going to get a deal there. I can no longer recommend these devices at this price point. But let me be very clear, this isn't really Valve's fault.

[00:03:02][music] I'm sure you've seen the AI crap going on right now, especially with everything going up in price. Doesn't just stop here. And honestly, we don't know if this is going to set some new precedent for the current other handhelds that are now competing with this because the Steam Decks are not as powerful as those other handhelds out there. All in all, even with all the other handhelds going up in price and everything, the Steam Deck just lost one of its best secret weapons that it had over everything else, and that was this.

[00:03:31]You got good enough performance that would run most games. You had an incredible Steam OS with constant updates and support from Valve and an affordable entry point all-in-one. These things [music] in my opinion created the best all-around handheld PC gaming device out there because [music] comparing to all the other ones on the market, for me at least, I felt like the Steam Deck has at least one good thing from e every other handheld packed together in one. But now it's much more expensive. [music] It's competing against stronger hardware and it's no longer really impulse buy territory. You can't just go out and get one of these.

[00:04:08]You have to really think about it.

[00:04:09]That's what the [music] Steam Deck excelled at before. I I feel like altogether this is why I feel like it's just really it's a lot harder to recommend this device universally. Like it it used to feel like a no-brainer recommendation. I could say, well, if you don't know much about PC gaming and you play a lot of indies and you just want the allaround easy to use device, just pick up a Steam Deck. It's one of the cheaper ones. I can't say that anymore. And speaking of competition, this is when we have to talk about the competition because now that the Steam Deck is back and at this new price point, a lot of people are thinking about buying other handhelds instead.

[00:04:40]You got the ROG Ally, the Legion Go, you've even got like, I don't know, used gaming laptops and mini gaming PCs.

[00:04:47]There's a lot of other selection now.

[00:04:49]And right now at the price point, an ROG Alli X, I can't believe I'm saying it.

[00:04:53]Xbox ROG Liix is currently a more [music] affordable and allround better option than the Steam Deck because you're getting more power out of the box. I really hate to say it because I I am not a big fan of Windows handhelds, but here we are. Now, forget all the handheld business. Valve still has two more pieces of hardware to launch. We have the Steam Machine and the Steam [music] Frame. We have no release date details yet, no pricing details as of making this video. [music] Yet, it's pretty clear that with the Steam Deck costing this much now, your Steam machine is not going to cost $800. Now, let me explain. There is better hardware. It is a more allround console experience that is supposed to do 4K upscaled gaming on a big TV. No, it's just going to cost more than a lowerowered handheld. You can make the argument to say the Steam Deck also has to think about the screen and the controls and all of that stuff, but that isn't the hardware that's going up in price nowadays. It's storage, it's RAM, all of what the Steam Machine [music] will need more of. And that's why, in my opinion, the Steam Machine is well over $1,000 at this point. Unless Valve is subsidizing the cost of that with the Steam Deck pricing, I don't think we're going to get a wellpriced Steam Machine.

[00:06:04]And it sucks. And here's why. It sucks for the future of PC gaming in in the living room and in Linux. The Steam Deck, as as I mentioned, is Steam OS. I love Steam OS, and it's Linux based. It feels like one of the best examples we've had in a long time of getting out of Windows. It felt like finally we were able to do this because Windows is on such a weird trajectory nowadays with Windows 11 and requiring secure boot and all this crap that I really don't agree with. If you own a PC, it should be your [music] PC, your hardware. And that's what I feel like Valve has been very good at demonstrating these past couple of years with the Steam Deck and all that stuff. Now things are different.

[00:06:38]You're still going to get Steam OS and the freedom that you get with other Steam hardware devices, but it's [music] going to be priced how it's going to be priced now. And in my opinion, the price is too high. Again, I can't blame this on Valve because of everything [music] else going on. But it does suck to see.

[00:06:54]And I want to be honest with you all rather than making another video where I just glaze the Steam Deck every single time. Because before I would glaze it in every video because I genuinely love the device. [music] I still do, but I can't really recommend it to anyone anymore.

[00:07:09][laughter] So, how are we going to end this off on a good note? Well, [music] here's the thing. I still think the Steam Deck, in my opinion, changed PC gaming forever. We saw an affordable entry price for a PC [music] gaming handheld with Steam OS on it for the masses and it got Linux to the masses.

[00:07:27]It's it's a huge leap. No one can deny that. But part of what made it special was that accessibility I mentioned.

[00:07:33][music] And that accessibility came from the price point. So, if you still want a Steam Deck, what do you do? What can I suggest? Well, you still have a few options. First off, Valve has their refurbished sales. You can still get a refurbished 512 GB OLED for the old price of a 1 TB OLED back [music] before the price increase. Uh, you can also sometimes get refurbished LCDs if they pop up, but then again, it's rare.

[00:07:56]However, there's still used sites like eBay, [music] Facebook Marketplace. I know that's a shot in the dark, but you might as well look now because once third party sellers catch on to the price increases, those prices will go up as well. So, to finally end this off, honestly, yeah, right now I I can't recommend the Steam Deck, [music] and it's just down to its pricing. It is not accessible anymore, and it's a step in the wrong [music] direction that unfortunately Valve really doesn't have much control over.

[00:08:24]If somehow the pricing comes back down or this is a move to subsidize the Steam Machine cost when it comes out, I'll be the first one celebrating cuz I still believe in what Valve's doing and I still believe in [music] Steam. And I really hope that in the future we could start to see some hardware that doesn't cost an arm and a leg because at the end of the day, the most important part out of all of this is consumer [music] freedom and PC gaming freedom and bringing freedom to a space that is slowly losing it as the days [music] go by. But yeah, this has been Nick. Thank you all for coming back to another one and I'll see you next [music] weekend.

[00:08:53]back to our regular programming. Take care.

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