Valve has offered the first direct indication of its pricing strategy for the newly announced Steam Machine, confirming that the console-like PC will not be subsidized like traditional gaming consoles. In an interview on Skill Up’s Friends Per Second podcast, Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais clarified the company’s approach to the highly anticipated hardware.
Griffais explained that the pricing aims to be “in line with what you might expect from the current PC market,” specifically targeting the cost of building a PC with a comparable level of performance. This marks a clear departure from the business model used by rivals like Sony and Microsoft, who often sell consoles at a loss or slim margin to generate early market momentum and recoup costs through software sales.
While the price point will match self-built PCs, Valve’s goal is for the Steam Machine to be a “good deal at that level of performance.” The added value will come from features that are “actually really hard to build if you’re making your own gaming PC from parts,” such as the device’s small form factor, extremely low noise level, and integrated features like HDMI CEC.
Valve’s engineer was unable to offer a concrete price range for the upcoming device. Griffais cited the current environment as a “hard time to have a really good idea of what the price is going to be,” due to the ongoing fluctuation of component costs in the PC market.
The company’s focus remains squarely on the mid-range level for the launch device, which it views as the optimal “good trade off between affordability and the level of power we get” for its first major living-room PC effort since the Steam Deck.
However, Griffais did reveal that Valve is open to the possibility of creating a higher-end version, a Steam Machine Pro, down the line. For the present, the company is prioritizing the successful launch of the initial mid-range model.
Sources
- Engadget: https://www.engadget.com/gaming/valve-says-that-the-steam-machines-price-will-be-more-in-line-with-current-pc-market-182213173.html
- GamingBolt: https://gamingbolt.com/steam-machines-pricing-is-more-in-line-with-the-current-pc-market-says-valve
- Twisted Voxel: https://twistedvoxel.com/steam-machine-price-will-not-be-subsidized-valve-clarifies/
- Tom’s Hardware: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/the-upcoming-steam-machine-wont-be-subsidized-like-consoles-to-hit-a-more-attractive-price-target-suggesting-high-relative-pricing-valve-engineer-confirms-the-device-competes-with-only-the-pc-market
- PC Gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/valve-coder-confirms-the-steam-machine-will-be-priced-like-a-pc-albeit-at-a-good-deal-if-you-build-a-pc-from-parts-and-get-to-basically-the-same-level-of-performance-thats-the-general-price-window-that-we-aim-to-be-at/