The Steam Deck Is Finally Back In Stock, But With A Massive Price Hike
If you've been waiting for the Steam Deck to be back in stock, there's good news and bad news. After several months, Valve's handheld is finally available to purchase again, albeit at a much higher price. Valve shared in a Steam news post that the Steam Deck OLED 512GB will now cost $789 (previously $549), while the 1TB model will be $949 (previously $649). It also marks the end for the Steam Deck LCD 256GB, which Valve previously announced had been discontinued. While disappointing, it isn't surprising. Back in February, Valve acknowledged that the ongoing chip shortage had impacted Steam Deck production.
In the latest statement, the company explains, "Steam Deck itself hasn't changed; these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole," clarifying that nothing about the hardware itself had changed. Many predicted the Steam Deck price increase earlier this year when Valve's Asian distributor Komodo raised the price of both models by ¥15,000 (around $94). Still, the actual price hike — $240 more for the 512GB and $300 more for the 1TB — is steeper than expected and makes it clear how bad the storage crisis has gotten.
Steam Deck and other gaming hardware is getting more expensive
Valve is far from the only hardware maker raising prices in the midst of the ongoing RAM and SSD shortage driven by AI data centers. In early May, Nintendo Switch 2 received a price hike attributed to "various changes in market conditions," going from $449.99 to $499.99. Before that, Sony raised the price of the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 5 Pro, and PlayStation Portal back in March.
The Steam Deck's price hike raises additional concerns for those who thought their worst fears for the Steam Machine had already been confirmed. While Valve has yet to announce a release date or price for its highly anticipated home console, it's becoming less and less likely that the Steam Machine will cost under $1,000 for either the 512GB or 2TB models. As demand for AI increases, prices for any technology that requires storage are going up, and dramatically in cases like the Steam Deck.