The anticipated price of Valve's Steam Machine continues to be a hot topic. Amid memory shortages and a delayed launch, some players worry the system might end up costing as much as $1000. But insider Moore’s Law Is Dead dismisses such estimates as overblown, predicting that the actual price will be much closer to that of a PlayStation 5 or an entry-level gaming PC.
Speaking on his podcast, he argued that the impact of rising memory and storage costs is being blown out of proportion. Even though RAM prices have doubled or tripled, and SSDs are more expensive thanks to demand from AI data centers, the hardware inside the Steam Machine simply doesn’t justify a $700–$1,000 sticker. He reckons Valve might tack on an extra $100–$150 to its initial cost projections, landing the 512 GB model somewhere around $600–$650.
Moore’s Law Is Dead insists that pricing the Steam Machine above $700 would be a misstep. At that level, it would cost more than a standard PS5 and creep into do-it-yourself gaming PC territory. He points out that key components like AMD Zen 4 CPUs and budget graphics cards are actually cheaper now than they were a few years ago, giving Valve some leeway to keep pricing competitive.
By hand-picking parts, the insider managed to put together an even more capable rig for roughly $700–$750. He does concede that deals like Micro Center motherboard-CPU-RAM combos aren’t accessible to everyone. And while off-the-shelf PCs tend to cost more, they’re undeniably easier for those who’d rather skip the DIY hassle.
There’s also talk of a potential Steam Machine configuration that does away with the $99 Steam Controller. Moore’s Law Is Dead believes this could theoretically bring the price down to around $499. But other leaks indicate that such a scenario is improbable. Insider Brad Lynch has also hinted that Valve was mulling a notable price hike after the memory market took a turn for the worse.
Valve has already signaled that the Steam Machine might demand a bigger investment than a traditional console. Given that the PS5 Slim Digital Edition now costs $599, a price bump appears almost inevitable. A $600 price point would then make for a compelling compromise—keeping the Steam Machine in the thick of console competition while still holding its own against budget DIY rigs.