Danny Weber
The Steam Deck's starting price has risen to $789, nearly double its original $399. This article explores how the price hike changes its appeal and the portable gaming market.
Steam Deck once seemed like a symbol of a new era: for $399, players got a device that could run almost any game they wanted on the go. In 2022, Valve's handheld made PC gaming both mobile and relatively affordable. Now, that same vision looks very different. According to The Verge, the starting price of the Steam Deck has risen to $789—nearly double.
The Verge's Sean Hollister notes that affordability was a key part of the Steam Deck's appeal. The device didn't force buyers to make a tough choice between multiple expensive purchases. For $400, they could take a risk, try a new format, and see if portable gaming suited them.
Now the situation has shifted. At $789, the Steam Deck is no longer seen as a relatively inexpensive entry into gaming anywhere. It becomes a purchase that must be weighed against other major expenses.
The price increase hasn't only affected Valve. The Nintendo Switch launched at $299, but after updates to the Switch 2 and changes in market conditions, Nintendo's current portable experience will soon start at $499. The Verge points out that this is more than the disc-less PS5 cost at launch.
The author doesn't place all blame on Nintendo and Valve. He acknowledges that prices are rising against a backdrop of broader market factors, including more expensive components, tariffs, and rising oil prices. Moreover, Valve and Nintendo are described in the article as among the last companies to raise prices.
The main problem, according to the author, isn't simply that hardware is getting more expensive. Portable gaming devices were seen as a more affordable alternative to consoles and full PCs. That's why their price increase feels particularly painful.
Competitors have not managed to establish themselves in the same price niche. Other manufacturers haven't been able to significantly challenge Valve and Nintendo on price. And when Microsoft responded to the threat the Steam Deck posed to Windows gaming, the Xbox Ally X came out in the $1,000 category, closer to a PC than a console.
The Verge notes: if the Steam Deck costs $789 instead of $399, it no longer looks like as much of a threat to Microsoft's dominance in Windows gaming. For buyers with sufficient budget, the Xbox Ally X at $1,000 may look more attractive, given its greater power and Microsoft's efforts to fix the device's shortcomings.
Other handheld gaming PCs are also moving into a more expensive segment. Lenovo Legion Go S, according to the article, now costs $1,580—almost double the starting price. Legion Go 2 is approaching $2,000 and uses the same chip as the Xbox Ally X. MSI Claw 8 AI Plus has increased from $1,000 to $1,299, though the author notes he saw it on sale for $1,099.
At these prices, a handheld gaming PC no longer looks like an impulse purchase for a new experience. It's no longer about being able to relatively inexpensively try gaming on the road, on the couch, or during a trip. Now the buyer will likely have to choose a handheld instead of something else.
The Verge also points to another risk for the value of such devices. One of the Steam Deck's strengths was the ability to play major PlayStation releases in a portable format, but according to the article, Sony no longer plans to bring its big single-player games to PC.
The author recalls buying a Steam Deck in 2022 without full confidence that he would play on a portable device again. He already had a good custom PC, so the purchase might not have paid off. But the $400 price made the experiment acceptable.
With a $1,000 device, it's different. Such a purchase requires a much more serious decision. So The Verge's conclusion sounds grim: the short period when portable gaming was simultaneously powerful, convenient, and relatively affordable may have already ended.
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