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- A Valve engineer has confirmed the firm won't subsidize the Steam Machine
- Hopes of a $500 price have been dashed
- The likelihood is the device will cost more like $800, but Valve will seek to add value in different ways compared to an equivalent gaming PC
A Valve engineer has confirmed that the Steam Machine won't have its pricing subsidized, console-style, pouring cold water on the hopes of many that we could be looking at a $500 living room PC.
Wccftech flagged up an interview YouTuber Skill Up conducted with Valve software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais on the Friends Per Second podcast in which the topic of the Steam Machine's price was discussed, and specifically the possibility of a Valve subsidy for the device.
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The YouTuber asked: "But it's not going to be a sort of subsidized device, like, Valve is not going into this thinking we're going to eat a big loss on this so that we can grow market share or category or anything like that, correct?"
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Griffais replied: "No, it's more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market. Obviously, our goal is for it to be a good deal at that level of performance.
"And then you have features that are actually really hard to build if you are making your own gaming PC from parts. Things like the small form factor, the noise level that we achieved, or lack thereof, is really impressive and we are excited that people are going to find out how quiet this thing is.
"But also some integration features like HDMI CEC. The Bluetooth and wireless work that we've done, the four antennas, the very deliberate design so that you can have a great experience with four Bluetooth controllers."
So, that's a clear 'no' in terms of there being a subsidy to keep a lid on the price of the Steam Machine, and it backs up some other chatter we've heard recently.
Get daily insight, inspiration and deals in your inboxContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.As mentioned at the outset, the hope for many was the possibility of a $500 price tag, and Wccftech observes that this figure was mentioned by Linus Tech Tips in a room with some Valve employees and that the 'energy wasn't great', meaning it was seemingly clear enough that this was too low a figure.
The assertion here that pricing will be "in line with what you might expect from the current PC market" also echoes previous statements about the Steam Machine being "very competitive with a PC you could build yourself from parts" (as Griffais said in an earlier chat with The Verge).
We ask Valve the big questions around the Steam Machine, Frame & Controller | FPS Podcast #83 - YouTube
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Analysis: complex pricing equations and added value elsewhere
So, what's the upshot here? Gamers are now thinking Valve is looking more at the $800 mark for the Steam Machine. And indeed, that was The Verge's guess at what a comparable self-build PC might cost to deliver the same kind of gaming performance as the AMD chips in the Steam Machine (which will have a semi-custom GPU from Team Red, it should be noted).
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Remember, the Steam Machine is being pitched so it'll be better (or equal) to 70% of the gaming PCs out there on Steam (going by Valve's hardware survey). It'll be no slouch, in other words, but clearly expectations need to be managed around the Zen 4 chip and RDNA 3 GPU which some feel sounds rather underpowered. (Some of the heavy lifting will be done on the software side, mind you, with the custom tuning for that GPU, and AMD's FSR).
At any rate, the intention now seems to be to firmly discourage any thoughts of a cheap price somewhere down at the $500 level – and the idea that Valve could take a loss on the hardware, because it will make money on the software. (Maybe a lot of money on Steam game sales – of which Valve gets a 30% cut, for most games that is, bar the top sellers – if lots of Steam Machines come to living rooms across the globe).
What Valve's engineer seems to be saying here is what you'll get is a mini PC that costs the same as an equivalently performant, larger desktop gaming PC, but you will get a lot more advantages with the Steam Machine's form-factor and design.
The Steam Machine will be quiet, compact and unobtrusive (with no power brick) – it'll blend in with the living room nicely. The device will fire up straight away, with an easy-to-use interface for your big-screen TV, and you can resume a gaming session at the drop of a hat. Only have 15 minutes to play? No problem, you can get straight into a quick game for that brief window of time you have before heading out of the house.
Griffais also mentions HDMI CEC which allows for volume control with your remote, for example, and automatically switching the TV on (or off) with the Steam Machine (as seen on the Steam Deck already). And also the design of Bluetooth functionality to allow for four wireless controllers.
These are the elements that will comprise the 'added value' for the Steam Machine over a regular gaming PC. We just have to trust that the end result will be as slick as Valve is talking it up here; though to be fair, the company did manage something special with the Steam Deck, and at a competitive price, too, so hopefully the Steam Machine will impress in the same vein eventually.
That said, there was a lot of hope around that dream of a $500 living room PC (some even talked about $400, which never seemed remotely realistic, mind), and there's quite a lot of let-down feeling out there now. Another potential stumbling block is the price of memory, meaning RAM and storage could cost a lot more when the Steam Machine comes out at some point in 2026.
That said, a comparable PC will cost a good deal more too (and console pricing will rise in line, to some extent, no doubt), so Valve's device should remain in roughly the same spot, price-wise, in the gaming device landscape.
But those memory price hike worries make it even more difficult to guess at where Steam Machine pricing might land, meaning that the new guesswork of $800 – and don't forget, it is just speculation – could end up closer to the $1,000 mark.
Sadly, I fear the worst when it comes to these potential memory shortage and ensuing price rise complications, and that has repercussions not just for prebuilt PCs and consoles, but for graphics cards too. There are even rumors that some budget models of graphics cards could become endangered species as next year rolls on.
There's some bleak forecasting going on right now, and we can only hope that these concerns are overblown – but somehow, I doubt it.
The best PC controllersOur top picks for the best PC gamepads➡️ Read our full guide to the best PC controllers1. Best overall:Xbox Wireless Controller2. Best budget:GameSir T4 Kaleid3. Best premium:Razer Wolverine V3 Pro4. Best wired:Thrustmaster eSwap X2
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Darren AllanDarren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).
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