Valve is discontinuing the $399 Steam Deck LCD (256 GB), pushing the entry price to $549 for the OLED model. Learn why costs rose and what options remain.
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Valve has officially pulled the plug on the most affordable Steam Deck. The company is discontinuing the $399 LCD version with 256 GB of storage, and once remaining stock is cleared, it will no longer be available to buy. A notice to that effect has already appeared on the Steam Deck page in the Steam Store.
Valve confirmed that production of the Steam Deck LCD 256 GB has ended for good. The buy button now shows the device as unavailable, which effectively means a new budget Steam Deck is off the table. The only potential path later could be refurbished units, if Valve decides to offer them separately.
The company did not explain the move, but against the backdrop of today’s memory market, the $399 configuration may simply have stopped being viable. Manufacturers report a sharp rise in NAND prices—chip costs have multiplied since the start of the year, and pressure could intensify in 2026 as producers prioritize AI-focused products. In that climate, keeping the entry-level model cheap is increasingly difficult.
As a result, the minimum buy-in for the Steam Deck ecosystem has climbed to $549—the current price of the OLED model with 512 GB of storage. It feels like a heavy hit to the budget end of the market: for a long time, Steam Deck was the most affordable portable gaming PC around. Comparable rivals tend to cost more, and alternatives with a similar balance of price and capability have nearly vanished.
In practical terms, anyone eyeing a Steam Deck now has to spend $150 more than before. For many players, that could be the tipping point, especially amid broader hardware price hikes and a shrinking set of budget-friendly options.