If you ask random gamers what price they think Valve will charge for its newly announced Steam Machine hardware, youâll get a wide range of guesses. But if you ask the analysts who follow the game industry for a living the same question⌠well, youâll actually get the same wide range of (somewhat better-informed) guesses.
At the high end of those guesses are analysts like F-Squaredâs Michael Futter, who expects a starting price of $799 to $899 for the entry-level 512GB Steam Machine and a whopping $1,000 to $1,100 for the 2TB version. With internal specs that Futter says âwill rival a PS5 and maybe even hit PS5 Pro performance,â we can expect a âhefty price tagâ from Valveâs new console-like effort. At the same time, since Valve is âpositioning this as a dedicated, powerful gaming PC⌠I suspect that the price will be below a similarly capable traditional desktop,â Futter said.
DFC Intelligence analyst David Cole similarly expects the Steam Machine to start at a price âaround $800â and go up to âaround $1,000â for the 2TB model. Cole said he expects Valve will seek âvery low marginsâ or even break-even pricing on the hardware itself, which he said would probably lead to pricing âbelow a gaming PC but slightly above a high-end console.â
This is an interesting topic! The anticipation around the Steam Machine and its pricing definitely has many gamers excited. It’ll be fascinating to see how it performs in the market.