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Valve Steam Machine, SteamOS Desktop, Steam Frame VR and Steam Controller

DukenukemX said:
If we're in a recession and people have no money then why did it sell out?
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That a bit strange if, has many market are not in a recession (lbig one like the USA for example), and people never in human history had more money than right now and never spent on luxury consumer device more than today, outside some strange lock-down covid months.

you know this will sell out and you know that because rich middle age gamers with giant purchassing power are by the millions now.

May 2026:
Personal income increased $181.6 billion (0.7 percent at a monthly rate) in May, according to estimates released today by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). Disposable personal income (DPI)—personal income less personal current taxes—increased $164.9 billion (0.7 percent), and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $156.1 billion (0.7 percent).

I think those are all near all time records adjusted for inflation (real personal consumption expenditures) outside peak 2021 direct check stimulus months.
 
usa all day said:
Several are FREE to PLAY games.
Why would Valve care if they can't profit?
Why would Valve do anything to fix it?
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free to play games often have moneytisation mechanism (skins, season pack and what not), if those are bought during a game session that was launched from steam they get the usual 30% cut.
That why it matter for epic that they can delvier fornite to people via their own epic store and that game maker will try to push them outside game purchase on their website, app or some workaround when they can.

Chance are If valve could not make profit on those free to play giant, they would have called that model immoral and would have blocked it from their store (like they did for games that want to finance themselve via ads in them, those valve cannot get a cut from easily, shortcutting the steam wallet completletly, they did the same for crypto that was also shortcutting their ability to take their cuts)
 
LukeTbk said:
middle age gamers
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Literally me.
image-54.jpg
 
MikeTrike said:
It's happening, I would have bought any one of the four, and kind of wanted a second controller, but my lesbian partner will be happy to know that I got on the list for the least expensive one.

View attachment 811493
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I got one also. All it means is that you are in the drawing pool to see if you are picked. Everyone that signed up for it got this email.
 
usa all day said:
More than doubled for things that use a little buiit in memory & cache...
I bought a 16TB hard drive in FEB 2026 @ $320 & now - June 2026 it's $655 - MORE than doubled.
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Yea but that's 16TB. The majority of computers come with 512GB and 1TB and 1TB M.2 from 2024 was $60 and now it's $130. A 512GB from 2024 was $45 and now it's $70. There's a sweat spot when it comes to best per gigabyte. The cost of a 2TB is like $260, which isn't much worse than the 1TB. 8TB is over a grand. 16TB mechanical drives are going for at least $520. It doesn't go up that high unless you're going for enterprise levels of storage.
 
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1_rick said:
I guess I should've known not to skip saying I was addressing that to Valve, not anyone on this forum. :)
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Maybe, it's a great controller, but if someone has existing controllers it's fine, including PS and XB. Especially people complaining that Valve didn't offer a barebones option. It's ultimately a PC, regardless of people feeling it may be a misstep.
 
DukenukemX said:
Yea but that's 16TB. The majority of computers come with 512GB and 1TB and 1TB M.2 from 2024 was $60 and now it's $130. A 512GB from 2024 was $45 and now it's $70. There's a sweat spot when it comes to best per gigabyte. The cost of a 2TB is like $260, which isn't much worse than the 1TB. 8TB is over a grand. 16TB mechanical drives are going for at least $520. It doesn't go up that high unless you're going for enterprise levels of storage.
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Are you saying prices have NOT doubled by giving examples of tech prices that have doubled & a few that haven't but it is still too much for consumers to consume? What am I missing?
 
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usa all day said:
Are you saying prices have NOT doubled by giving examples of tech prices that have doubled & a few that haven't but it is still too much for consumers to consume? What am I missing?
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he his saying price of some part doubled, but those were just from a portion of the original total cost.

If the price of the part that were 30% of the original total raw cost doubled, the article is now 1.3x time its original cost to make, not twice as much.
 
LukeTbk said:
he his saying
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DukenukemX said:
I'm not sure if the prices have gone up because of DRAM prices or we're conditioned to believe it's from DRAM prices?
I get DRAM has gone up, but enough to nearly double the price of the Steam Deck?
You could have bought a Steam Deck for $350, and now it's nearly $800? DDR5 was $40 in 2024, but now that same 16GB kit is $200.
That's a $160 price increase, but Valve doesn't pay retail pricing for DRAM.
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I was pointing out - EVERYTHING - has increased - even that mechanical HD I bought that has very little ram, but the price has doubled in 4 months!

As a former tech / software / consulting sales guy - you always start high - like selling a used car - to test "what the market will bear" based on supply & demand & then negotiate down.

Yes, the box is a "retail" product & Valve has a hard BOM to recoup, but there is already talk they will not subsidize, but may offer bundles - like $200 in game credits (Steam Wallet) or a free controller.

Bring on the Steam Sales!
 
usa all day said:
I was pointing out - EVERYTHING - has increased - even that mechanical HD I bought that has very little ram, but the price has doubled in 4 months!
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Mechanical HD did, ssd did, dram did, not necessarily logic wafer, the case, the screen, speakers and other parts.

4nm/5nm went up a little bit (instead of going down) but did not double+ like nand/dram/HDD, OLED monitor have not been affected and price have been going down fast in recent years.
 
LukeTbk said:
Mechanical HD did, ssd did, dram did, not necessarily logic wafer, the case, the screen, speakers and other parts.

4nm/5nm went up a little bit (instead of going down) but did not double+ like nand/dram/HDD, OLED monitor have not been affected and price have been going down fast in recent years.
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OMG, do we really have to niggle like this? He said / she said / tomato / potato.

RE: OLED monitors didn't go up in price, or speakers, or cases... none of which would cause a GabeBOX to increase price, just as those ancillary items will be irrelevant to the future PS /XB.

1782503367620.png


My local pizza joint used to be $10 - now it's $15 - that didn't double?

The steak house rib eye was $20 - now it's $40 - THAT doubled!

"In life" prices of EVERYTHING constantly rise while wages remain flat & people have to lower their cost of living or increase their income somehow.

1782503463408.png
 
rinaldo00 said:
I got one also. All it means is that you are in the drawing pool to see if you are picked. Everyone that signed up for it got this email.
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My cousin got the waitlist one, so my impression is that the reservation queue means you'll get an email eventually for this first run.

My email came through with reservation queue as well, so it'll be interesting to see when the order email shows up.
 
workshop35 said:
My cousin got the waitlist one, so my impression is that the reservation queue means you'll get an email eventually for this first run.
My email came through with reservation queue as well, so it'll be interesting to see when the order email shows up.
Click to expand...
Youtube has already flipped the switch to VALVE / STEAM / GABE / FAILED - NOBODY should buy the BOX!

The sky is falling & the hardware is useless and a TOTAL RIP-OFF!

Abandon all hope yee who enter here...
 
DukenukemX said:
I'm not sure if the prices have gone up because of DRAM prices or we're conditioned to believe it's from DRAM prices? I get DRAM has gone up, but enough to nearly double the price of the Steam Deck? You could have bought a Steam Deck for $350, and now it's nearly $800? DDR5 was $40 in 2024, but now that same 16GB kit is $200. That's a $160 price increase, but Valve doesn't pay retail pricing for DRAM. Apple's Neo going up $100 is also suspicious since it only has 8GB of it. Plus, Apple doesn't exactly roll over and accept a price increase. You know Apple fought hard to prevent a price increase.
Click to expand...
I'm not in the US, but I'm paying twice the price for DDR4 SODIMMS that I was paying only 18 months ago, and that's DDR4, DDR5 is even worse. That price has increased considerably in the last 6 months, and that's not including the staggering increase regarding anything using NAND storage (not to mention overall availability regarding M2 SSD's). There's little doubt the price increases are almost 100% a result of the current tech market shortages. As stated, it's not just the Steam Machine that's going up in price, even Tim Cook has stated that Apple simply cannot afford to keep sheltering customers from RAM/NAND shortages and price increases anymore.
 

The Steam Machine Costs Too Much, but it’s Just an Early Building Block of Something Bigger​

June 26, 2026 — Daniel Sims

The closest thing I’ve seen to an actual “gotcha” is this pre-built Mini-ITX machine from a French company with much faster parts than the Steam Machine at about the same price, and this is the important part, with instructions on how to install SteamOS.

And it’s probably exactly the kind of thing Valve wants PC companies to start selling.

They released a SteamOS image at the same time as the Steam Machine. That’s the option for all those people complaining that they can build a better Steam Machine for less. It’s probably a matter of time before Asus, Lenovo, MSI, Acer, and whoever else can starts selling SteamOS-ready pre-builts with SteamOS pre-installed.

We’re basically headed back to where we were when Valve and the OEMs did the original Steam Machine line in 2013.

if Chinese android console makers like Ayaneo get their hands on that Arm version of SteamOS, that puts Steam and PC gaming on a whole new tier of devices.

https://noplatform.wordpress.com/20...-an-early-building-block-of-something-bigger/
 
Looking at that TechPowerUp link: '350 W 80+ Bronze certified PSU' sounds like it's really skimping there unless that card + CPU combo isn't drawing that powerful? (I'm completely out of the loop with AMD naming and specs.)
 
Okatis said:
Looking at that TechPowerUp link: '350 W 80+ Bronze certified PSU' sounds like it's really skimping there unless that card + CPU combo isn't drawing that powerful? (I'm completely out of the loop with AMD naming and specs.)
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gpu — 7600m (mobile version of desktop 7600)
cpu — 2 full core + 4 c core
 
Mazzspeed said:
I'm not in the US, but I'm paying twice the price for DDR4 SODIMMS that I was paying only 18 months ago, and that's DDR4, DDR5 is even worse. That price has increased considerably in the last 6 months, and that's not including the staggering increase regarding anything using NAND storage (not to mention overall availability regarding M2 SSD's). There's little doubt the price increases are almost 100% a result of the current tech market shortages. As stated, it's not just the Steam Machine that's going up in price, even Tim Cook has stated that Apple simply cannot afford to keep sheltering customers from RAM/NAND shortages and price increases anymore.
Click to expand...
Right because Apple has always been about low prices (looks at price for RAM upgrade years ago) ;)
 
Marees said:

The Steam Machine Costs Too Much, but it’s Just an Early Building Block of Something Bigger​

June 26, 2026 — Daniel Sims

The closest thing I’ve seen to an actual “gotcha” is this pre-built Mini-ITX machine from a French company with much faster parts than the Steam Machine at about the same price, and this is the important part, with instructions on how to install SteamOS.

And it’s probably exactly the kind of thing Valve wants PC companies to start selling.

They released a SteamOS image at the same time as the Steam Machine. That’s the option for all those people complaining that they can build a better Steam Machine for less. It’s probably a matter of time before Asus, Lenovo, MSI, Acer, and whoever else can starts selling SteamOS-ready pre-builts with SteamOS pre-installed.

We’re basically headed back to where we were when Valve and the OEMs did the original Steam Machine line in 2013.
Click to expand...
But those didn't sell. With people not buying much new tech and holding on to old tech longer because of prices I don't see anything selling well at this time.
 
Mazzspeed said:
I'm not in the US, but I'm paying twice the price for DDR4 SODIMMS that I was paying only 18 months ago, and that's DDR4, DDR5 is even worse. That price has increased considerably in the last 6 months, and that's not including the staggering increase regarding anything using NAND storage (not to mention overall availability regarding M2 SSD's). There's little doubt the price increases are almost 100% a result of the current tech market shortages. As stated, it's not just the Steam Machine that's going up in price, even Tim Cook has stated that Apple simply cannot afford to keep sheltering customers from RAM/NAND shortages and price increases anymore.
Click to expand...
Even Apple didn't go that crazy with prices increases, and Apple always goes crazy with prices.

usa all day said:
As a former tech / software / consulting sales guy - you always start high - like selling a used car - to test "what the market will bear" based on supply & demand & then negotiate down.
Click to expand...
So you're saying it's not entirely the DRAM and SSD prices that's responsible for the over $1k GabeCube?
 
DukenukemX said:
Even Apple didn't go that crazy with prices increases, and Apple always goes crazy with prices.
Click to expand...
Except it wasn't really a price increase as the Steam Machine wasn't actually on sale at the time and the price was largely speculative. Once again, this is 100% due to the insatiable need for big US tech to create a market for AI where none exists, resulting in supply and demand issues regarding RAM and NAND, something that wasn't such a problem when the Steam Machine was initially announced.

As for Apple's pricing, the rise has only 'just' been announced, I don't even think it's gone into full effect yet.
 
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DukenukemX said:
So you're saying it's not entirely the DRAM and SSD prices that's responsible for the over $1k GabeCube?
Click to expand...
No, it is mostly DRAM and SSD prices & Valve has some wiggle room on PM.
For a product (vs service) there is a hard BOM, OH + PM required in business.
Valve started designing their box in 2023 & specs evolved over 2+ years as prices rose.
This wasn't a competitive bid RFP on parts with locked / bulk prices, it's more like JIT.

You ignored this part...
usa all day said:
VALVE SAID ...they will not subsidize but may offer bundles - like $200 in game credits (Steam Wallet) or a free controller.
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That would still cover the BOM and basically be deleting the PM. Happens all the time.

Services are different & use a sliding scale on BR because longer engagements reduce OH without taking a PM hit.
 
Mazzspeed said:
Once again, this is 100% due to the insatiable need for big US tech to create a market for AI where none exists, resulting in supply and demand issues regarding RAM and NAND,
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this is reversing the order quite a bit, the is so much demand that we get throttled during popular hours despite all the build up, look how much big tech is paying xAI for access trying to respond to it...
 
That's a pretty clever name, too. Not that I need *another* PC (especially since I just got an eGPU added to my Ryzen 255 mini PC), but who's Meta PCs? Never heard of them before.
 
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