The Steam Machine’s High Price is a Bad Omen for Next-Gen Consoles
When Valve first announced that it was making a new iteration of the Steam Machine, many were convinced that the company would revolutionize console gaming the same way it revolutionized PC handhelds with the Steam Deck. Though the Steam Machine was always meant to be a PC at its core, its console-like form factor, coupled with its Steam-centered operating system, made it seem like a worthy competitor to Sony and Microsoftās console platforms.
An affordable PC with all the convenience of a console is something that companies in the gaming industry has long sought to develop, and the new Steam Machine seemed like it would finally achieve this previously-unthinkable concept. Alas, it appears that this was never meant to be.
The Steam Machine is Way Too Costly for What It is
Valve announced the price of the Steam Machine earlier this week, and it is way more expensive than most people expected. The cheapest version of the system, which comes with 500 GB of storage and no controller, is being sold at a whopping $1049. On the other end of the spectrum, a 2TB version of the system (which, thankfully, includes a controller) can set purchasers back an eye-watering $1428.
The Steam Machine is ridiculously expensive; thereās no ifs, ands, or buts about it. For the price of the most costly version of the system, you could probably buy around 3 used PS5s or Xbox Series consoles at a retailer somewhere. Heck, you could even build a PC with a similar form factor for a fraction of the price.
If Valveās new āconsoleā was an extremely powerful device that could run games way better than its competitors could, then the price would be a bit more understandable. The thing is, though, itās not. The Steam Machine is slightly less powerful than the base PS5, and if recent analyses are to be believed, it runs games considerably worse than Sonyās console does in some instances.
There’s No Real Point in Buying a Steam Machine
At this point, you might ask what reason there is to buy a Steam Machine over a considerably cheaper PlayStation or Xbox. The answer to that question, frankly, is… nothing. Unless youāre a diehard PC gamer who loves Valveās hardware and prefers the openness of the PC ecosystem over traditional consoles, there isnāt really anything the Steam Machine offers that will convince non-Valve fans to buy it.
To be fair to Valve, the company hasnāt positioned this device as a direct competitor to PlayStation and Xbox consoles like fans have. Valve has outright stated, in fact, that it does not intend to subsidize the cost of the Steam Machine in order to lower its price. The company, it seems, is targeting existing Steam fans more so than new PC gamers.
Valve is Not Subsidizing the Steam Machine, Unlike Sony and Microsoft
Sony and Microsoft, in case you arenāt aware, use the razor-and-blades business model when distributing their consoles. The idea is that, instead of passing on the cost of manufacturing straight to consumers (like Valve is doing with the Steam Machine), the companies sell their consoles at a low price to increase sales of a complementary goodā¦ in this case, video games.
Itās because of the razor-and-blades business model that consoles have historically been so cheap compared to their PC counterparts. The Steam Machineās price, however, is a bad omen for the console market as a whole.
While Valve isnāt subsidizing the cost of the Steam Machine, as Sony and Microsoft do with their consoles, itās important to reiterate that the device is somewhat weaker than the base PS5. If a system this weak is this expensive, then how could Sony and Microsoft possibly make their next-generation consoles remotely affordable?
The Next-Gen PlayStation and Xbox Consoles Will Probably Be Expensive
Itās assumed that the PS6 will be a massive step up over the base PS5 in terms of raw power. The specs for the system, which leaked late last year, suggest that it will have a GPU on par with the RTX 5090, as well as up to 40 GB of GDDR7 memory. Under the current market conditions, there is no way a system like this could be affordable to develop.
The price of RAM has gone up by an insane amount due to the ongoing AI bubble. If Sony and Microsoftās next-gen consoles release while this price inflation is still a thing, then itās hard to imagine them being cheap for consumers.
The only way we are ever getting a powerful console thatās more affordable than, say, the $900 PS5 Pro is if its manufacturers are willing to lose hundreds of dollars on each unit sold. Something tells me that that is unlikely to happen.
The Steam Machine does indeed signal a turning point for the future of the console market, but not in the way that most people expected. If Valveās system is anything to go by, we are going to be shelling out a lot of money to buy the next Xbox or the PS6. Itās hard to imagine either of these systems selling well if they cost as much as the Steam Machine does, but I suppose only time will tell how things play out.
