Leak suggests solid pricing for Steam Machine, but even that might be too high to save it

The Steam Machine, just like the rest of Valve's hardware releases, is being held back by increasing RAM prices and an unstable tech market that got thrown into total chaos by rampant AI "growth." Companies eager to cash in on this new technology directly caused a supply issue where RAM, a key component, became so expensive that just about everything under the sun became costlier overnight.

That seems to be dying down a little following OpenAI's financing troubles, since that tech giant was the primary buyer of undiced wafers, which it allegedly "reserved" via letters of intent without actually paying for them. According to Price Empire, these developments could be positively impacting Valve, which is allegedly waiting for the RAM issues to die down so it can target a $650 to $750 price range for the Steam Machine.

At $650, that puts the Steam Machine on par with a 1TB PlayStation 5 Slim console, the physical version, and about $50 above the digital variant. Valve's machine performs the same as or worse than the PS5 Slim and is going to be carrying the same issues as most PCs due to optimization, meaning the PS5 will likely perform better in games overall.

At $750 or perhaps even more if supply issues start to appear, the Steam Machine will be priced way above conventional PCs of the same power, as well as above other, more competitive consoles on offer, such as all the different PlayStation 5 variants and their Xbox counterparts.

Even at $650, the Steam Machine will have a tough time trying to survive on the market. PC components continue to fall dramatically in price, meaning most players can now build good machines for next to nothing (if they can get their hands on some good RAM deal), while prebuilts, too, have been reaching levels far lower than what they once were, to the point of actually competing with custom builds in price.

With not much portability, no screen, a pre-installed gaming-focused Linux system, and raw power that doesn't offer too much compared to the competition, the Steam Machine is, I fear, doomed to fail at such a high price. And the more time goes by, the less viable it becomes, since it already has the power level of a console from 2020, which only falls behind the longer Valve keeps it off shelves.

At the end of the day, though, this rumored $650 price is a far cry from the initially spouted $800 or even $900+ figures. If it were to launch at those prices, the Steam Machine would fail to capture even a fraction of the audience that it could at $650. What I remain hopeful for is that Valve will learn something from the Steam Machine's launch (they failed to launch one already, and this one is a big improvement) and continue iterating on what could potentially be a third mainstream console down the line.

The reiterated Steam Controller looks good already, and Steam Frame is undoubtedly going to be one of the best VR systems to date, so it's not all gloom coming from Valve's R&D labs. Let's just hope RAM stabilizes soon.

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