Valve Raises Price Of Steam Deck 300 Bucks Tell Me This Is A Joke?

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]All right, my friends. Something wild happened today. This is absolutely crazy and kind of unexplainable. This is probably the first time that I've seen a product get a price hike that I was like scratching my head thinking, "Wait, what are we doing? What are we doing, Valve?"

[00:00:15]So, guys, yeah, Valve, the freaking the Steam Deck OLED is $950 now. And that got me thinking. These things have been out of stock for a while now, and now that they're coming back into stock, Valve is raising the price $300. When we just had the launch of Xbox Alli X with the Z2 Extreme, we just had the launch of the Lenovo Legion Go with the Z2 Extreme that both have NPUs and significantly more power with the ability to hook up eGPUs to them.

[00:00:52]This is crazy wild for Valve to even do this. they would have been better off coming out with a $1,000 Steam Deck that is newer hardware instead of trying to like I get I get like Valve's thing, you know, obviously um they they've already got the hardware and stuff, but it would have been a much better look to kind of just sunset the older hardware and then bring out a new a newer version that has upgraded specs that they could justif ify the more uh the higher price cuz now essentially is what you're getting is base hardware from the from the from the Steam Deck that's already out. It's that's pretty much kind of old. I think the Steam Deck was one of the first ones to come out. Then the Xbox I meant then the ROG Ally came out. I mean, even the ROG Ally with the Z1 Extreme is is is a better overall system with hardware that you can still install SteamOS to and have a more robust system over what the Steam Deck is. Now, don't get me wrong, guys. Like, I don't have a problem with the Steam Deck at all. I just preferred, you know, the the the the al the the ROG Allies. Um, from the first time I saw the original Ally, I was like, "Yep, I got to have that." And then obviously getting the the the the Xbox Ally X.

[00:02:16]This thing has been absolutely incredible. I love hooking it up. I just got the eGPU for it this weekend. I've been playing around with that. First I was playing around with the 9070 XT in it. Now I'm with the 960 XT. I'm still trying to put together like a robust review for this overall experience. But you got to kind of scratch your head with what Valve is doing and putting the price for the original Steam Deck at, you know, I mean, like raising the cost of this thing, $300 for essentially hardware that that's not bad at a reasonable price. Like, don't get me wrong, like Steam Deck is not bad, but a $300 cost increase for hardware that's already that's that's technically I mean I mean it's not even on par with the with the Z1 Extreme. And so you look at that versus, you know, some of these newer handhelds, even the MSI Claws with the with the new Intel builds and stuff like these things are more powerful. They have better features. they have the ability to to utilize, you know, auto super resolution, they're going to have the ability to potentially use FSR4 here pretty soon. So, if you if you look at that and you look at what the original Steam Deck is and then you look at this $300 price increase for this, I I just I don't I don't see that level of hardware as an option for a $300 price increase to be completely honest with you. Um, I would have liked to seen them probably just sunset that device and and bring out a newer version at a higher price because something like the Xbox Alli X, okay, let's be real. $1,000 for that. Okay, like I I see a lot of people being like, "Man, it's a handheld. It's $1,000." But when you set this thing up legitimately with with an eGPU, my friends, when you when you set this thing up and and you actually see what it can do and you and you actually get that boost of of power by doing that, um it turns this into a more viable product that it's a lot easier to to justify buying an eGPU case, a GPU, and a freaking power supply to to to upgrade this than it would be to go out and build out a whole brand new uh PC or something like this is a I mean this is a pretty expensive option.

[00:04:44]Let's let's be real. $1,800 is the the the cost of this overall experience, but then when you throw in something like the the Rikeri 2, you know, this this right here adds another 160 bucks. So, I mean, we're we're close to a couple thousand for this particular build right here. And that's with a 960 XT in it. If you go with a 9070 XT, um, you're going to add a little bit more cost to that.

[00:05:10]So, you're looking at $2,200. But, let's be real, the utility of being able to take the handheld with you and still game, you know, at 1080p on the screen, AAA games, getting a good frame rate, being able to actually utilize the power in this thing. Um, I think that that is a much better option. Um, especially over something like the Steam Deck, man.

[00:05:33]like the Steam Deck is not a bad system.

[00:05:36]Obviously, Steam OS runs pretty good on that, but you can backload Steam OS onto this, too. So, either way you look at it, um it's this is probably the first price increase for a product that that I that I'm like, "Okay, what are you doing, Valve?" Like I'm scratching my head and I'm thinking like $300 for the Steam Deck without any improvements to overall hardware on that. And I mean I mean yeah, don't get me wrong. Like I'm technically it's not the first one.

[00:06:09]The base hardware for PlayStation 5 and like Series S and and Xbox Series X the prices going up on those kind of leaves me a little bit feeling like h what are we doing here, guys? Um, these these these some of these some of these products like I get it that it costs a lot of money for for Valve and other companies to to source RAM right now. I I get it.

[00:06:34]I get it. But if your product is not going to deliver any extra added value above and beyond what you're already selling or like what you're already, you know, already delivering.

[00:06:51]I I just don't see that as a as as a as a good thing. I mean, obviously, you know, there's different versions of the Steam Deck, so you can still get, you know, like the the other one, like the I think the middle one was like what, $750? So, I mean, it's still a price increase. And like, don't get me wrong, man. A handheld a handheld device that plays like all your PC games and stuff, it is cool. Like, it is cool. Um, and and I get it, you know, but gosh dang, guys. This is like the first time that I'm like that I'm feeling like, oo man, that's that's I mean like maybe a $100 price increase. Okay, whatever. We can we can deal with that. But $300 increase.

[00:07:34]Yeah, I'm scratching my head. I'm sorry, guys. I'm I'm scratching my head. I I don't know if that is a good move. Um I don't think that Valve should be making more of that hardware to be completely honest with you. I mean, like the Steam Deck is awesome and it was incredible when it launched, but now I think maybe an upgraded Steam Deck Steam Deck 2 would have been the better option or the better route forward, especially because they can probably cram in higherend hardware and and be able to to like take advantage of that and and still give customers a value instead of just being like, "All right, look, this thing's 300. Yeah, this one here definitely this one here is definitely a lot more of a a hard recommend for probably anybody.

[00:08:28]And this is like I'm not even joking.

[00:08:30]Like the first time I kind of agree with everybody that's like, "Yeah, this is ridiculous cuz it is. This should be upgraded hardware. we already had the the the the the Ally, you know, the Ally Z1 Extreme and now we got the Z2 Extreme just a couple years later. I don't think it would have been I don't think people would have been mad at Valve if they would have upgraded the overall hardware and raised the price. Like I I think that people would have been more susceptible to that and they wouldn't be getting the backlash that they're getting right now because then that calls into question.

[00:09:00]It's like, "Okay, so what is the freaking Steam Machine going to cost?

[00:09:03]you going to sell this to us for $1,500?

[00:09:06]Like, what are you going to do, Valve?

[00:09:07]Like, how how are you going to put out this hardware in in today's market and make it a viable option? Because look, I don't have a problem with 8 GB GPUs. I really don't. You can you can play lots of games with 8 GB. So, it that to me is not a problem. That's a that's a non-issue. I can still get an enjoyable playable experience on 8 GB. But, what are we going to like where are we going with this, Valve? Like, what are we going to do? like what like announce the prices for this for this steam machine, man. Cuz myself and a lot of other people are are trying to get one this year for review purposes. And look, man, if this thing's going to be $1,500, like that's I'm going to Yeah, I I don't know. Like, I'll think about it, but I'm I'm possibly okay with $1,000 range. You know what I mean? Like a,000 bucks.

[00:10:00]Okay. I'm gonna get the, you know, if if I can get the two terabyte one or whatever. Yeah, like I'm I'm okay with that, but I'm not gonna pay $1,000 for 512 gigs. Like, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. To me, that's a little bit wild. Um, so yeah, I want to review the Steam machine. I do.

[00:10:17]I absolutely want to review that. Um, but you know, like the confidence in this machine right now, it's like, dude, I'm buying all this hardware. It's it's quite expensive and people are just so anti-freaking price right now that it makes it very hard to be excited about this hardware.

[00:10:39]Um, and especially coming to the market with only 8 gigs of VRAM like that makes it very tough to uh to justify it. It does especially in this market, man.

[00:10:50]especially in only true enthusiasts and valve lovers are going to buy this thing at at at these higher prices. So, I don't know, guys. I don't know. All right, so if you like this content, do not forget to like and subscribe. I'll see you guys in the next one. Thanks so much for watching.