i swear i read somewhere that they were shootin for around $400 for a base model
this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2025
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No. It's going to be sub PS5 in terms of performance and should be priced accordingly. You can make the argument that games are a bit cheaper on Steam so they can maybe charge a premium for that.
I am ostensibly the target market for this as I refuse to play games at my desk, only the couch. But I would love to get into the Steam ecosystem and play on my couch and PCVR titles. But I would only consider one if it could do the things my PS5 does at a similar price for both the system and VR headset.
Honestly, they could sell at a loss and still profit. Steam has the biggest selection of games bar none, they've built a culture of buying games too collect them with no intention of playing them, and they get a decent cut of every sale. If they thought of it as a 10 year plan they could sell this thing for $400, and undercut the entire rest of the condole scene, land this in the living room of every kid who wants to game world wide, and literally crush the big 3 in sales.
And then Microsoft or Sony would bulk buy 10k steam machines to use in their server rooms. They can't sell at a loss because the hardware is not locked, otherwise people could just buy these and use them for whatever and Valve wouldn't see a cent from those machines. At the very least they need to be sold at a neutral price point, but more than likely they're looking to get some profit over them.
And then Microsoft or Sony would bulk buy 10k steam machines to use in their server rooms
They'd need 10k steam accounts tho
Yes, it would be very difficult for the owners @outlook to create 10k accounts.
I've wondered for lot of PC gamers why they don't get a fiber optic hdmi cable to connect their PC to the TV, since seems a waste to have such a powerful machine then be stuck to a monitor when playing a cinematic graphics driven title like Cyberpunk 2077.
Makes sense if the PC is on another floor or too far to do. But, I've seen 30m hdmi 2.1 fiber optic cables that can push 4k/120 over that distance.
That alone wouldn't solve most of the problems of playing on the couch.
Does for me since my main goal is to sit on the couch and use a controller and be able to take advantage of the 4k resolution and the 120 hz panel with freesync on a larger screen and HDR.
And all it took was the price of a hdmi cable to get it to happen versus hundreds or thousand more to get another separate system for the TV.
You still need a controller that will go that far and an OS/frontend that works on the TV.
Not an issue either. If you can have the money for a fiber optic hdmi cable then you have the money for a powered usb cable to extend the wireless range.
I've been gaming on PC that wasn't near my TV for years since back during the 360/PS3 era. And hdmi and usb cable is all that's been needed to get started. Nothing more complicated beyond that.
And OS front end? There's Steam big picture mode or just use a cheap wireless keyboard like the K400 to navigate the desktop. You are talking to pc gamers who built a powerful pc. Im not talking about this set up to some console player and trying to convert them to PC. And I'm not trying to convince someone who wants a dedicated system for the TV so might want a dumbed down UI, but someone who has a powerful PC they use for desktop use and gaming and wants to play on the TV too without moving their PC.
Just showing there is a cheap affordable option using existing powerful hardware that one already has on hand if they want to also utilize it on their TV. But if someone insist on dropping hundreds or thousands more for a secondary system to play on the TV that's fine too.
I've tried these couch keyboard mouse setups and they always suck.
I'm using the k400 to navigate desktop. I'm using my controller to play games. Kind of weird to go through the set up of playing on the couch in front of a TV away from the desk and thinking about using a mouse and keyboard instead of a controller.
Not an experience I would want personally. But that's one of the differences between me and a PC gamer, PC gamers are happy to put up with a lot more crap with their gaming than I am.
No more crap than just playing on a monitor.
Well at a desk you don't have to pull out the keyboard from wherever you stash it and put it on your lap every time you want to change games. It's already there.
But of course I am comparing to console gaming where this option is a lot more crap in comparison.
Steam Big picture mode you don't even need to bother with that. It can all be done through controller.
If you are familiar with Steam Deck that's basically big picture mode.
And I just keep my K400 at the couch since that's only time I use it. Sometimes I feel like browsing web a bit on the TV, or in game might want to utilize text chat. I use my PC to play video files to watch movies and shows, so pretty much multiple reasons for me beyond gaming.
Yeah I haven't tried big picture mode lately but as I remember you still had to sometimes deal with keyboard and mouse to fix options or sometime edit files on the computer to make things work well on a given hardware. But maybe it's improved since then.
Well yeah that's just comes with being a PC. But, if you already got your games set up not really much need to do troubleshooting when TV gaming.
Like you can go on and on and on trying to find issues, but main point is for PC gamers who already have a gaming PC hdmi cable and controller is generally all that is needed to game on the TV. So they can save on needing another system just for the purpose of playing on a TV.
At that point if a PC is as troublesome as you keep making it out to be a Steam Machine or Steam Deck isn't going to be any better if you truly want a simple as possible system like the console.
Yeah I'm sure for a lot of PC gamers this will be fine. It remains to be seen if the Steam Machine is really the couch experience I would accept or not. If it involves a keyboard and mouse it's not. Been there, done that, not going back. I think it will probably be priced outside of what I'd be willing to pay for something of this spec anyway.
At the end of the day, consoles do a lot of things very well for the price and are a good value if you don't have a very large game library. On the Sony store you can still pick most stuff up on pretty steep discounts if you wait a bit and put it on a watchlist.
Pretty much why in my first comment it was addressing PC gamers to try using a HDMI cable if they want to play on the TV. Wasn't directed towards console gamers to get a PC.
Steam machine will require same troubleshooting, since it is in the end a PC that lets you install any games even if it isn't compatible. And will require sometimes to go to a site like protondb to see which proton version is compatible to get the game running.
Steam machine is more an entry for those interested in getting into PCs that isnt super expensive.
Kind of funny this long conversation ended up being with a console gamer than my intended target demographic. So I kept wondering why is this pc gamer so resistant to hdmi cables.
To be fair I do explain my couch use case, the fact that I don't have a Steam library, and directly mention the PS5 at the top level comment of this chain, so you shouldn't be too surprised that I'm a console gamer.
It very well begs the question though, if it's not for console gamers due to mentioned issues and likely price, is it really for PC gamers who likely already have a PC and could easily enough stream to their tv or just get a long cable and a few other peripherals as you mention? And would PC users really be happy with such a nerfed machine graphically? My impression is that most PC gamers are shooting for even higher specs than consoles.
I don't think most people shoot for higher than console specs or even upgrade as often as people think. Like I'm on AM4 which is a last gen chipset and on a 3000 series gpu which is 2 gpu generations ago.
And with stuff like dlss it's extended how often people need to upgrade to hit fps targets. Like I'm still able to play at over 100 fps. All the ones talking up the latest video cards and cpus are pretty much seeking next gen performance and graphics, and they are outliers based on steam hardware surveys.
Me. I don't see myself upgrading until the next console gen when hardware requirements will go up again.
And not everyone wants to build a pc, and there's people who've been happy with the performance of the Deck. So not all pc gamers are the stereotypical must max everything out crowd. So for them getting something more powerful than the Deck would would be for them. And for some like me PC flexibility when it comes to mods, tweaks, and being able to use whatever preferred input they want is the draw than the graphics.
I actually think PC gamers care less about graphics than console users, since we want more frames. Like during the PS3 era I was willing to drop my resolution to 720p and go to low to hit 60 fps if necessary. But, later on the PS4 that was considered sacrilege, and games like Bloodborne released at 30 fps despite later some modder showing bloodborne could have ran close to 60 if the console hadn't been obessed with maxing resolution. We will take lower resolution and lower graphics settings to get higher frames compared to what consoles who prioritize graphics over frames.
I actually used to be a console gamer and was a big part of why I shifted over to PC as my main. I got sick of consoles choosing graphics over performance. And decided to go to PC where I could make the decision for myself.
As for me if the Steam Machine is cheap enough or goes on sale for around the base price of the Deck in the future I might just pick it up to use as a secondary PC on my other monitor.
They already tried that with the original steam machines and it flopped hard. It'll be significantly better value or it'll flop again, simple. They're clearly optimizing for price based on the vram/ram specs. Yeah maybe it'll go up after launch but out of the gate it'll be sub-$500/512gb otherwise the whole exercise is pointless
Competing with the console prices is not likely. Not only will they probably sell hardware at a loss, but they step on Sony and Microsoft territory, with whom they have deals to bringing games to steam.
Selling at a loss works for consoles because games will recoup the loss. For pc there is no guarantee. If the steam box is that cheap, corporate sector will order steam machines (by the 100s or 1000s), without guarantee to recoup the loss.
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All of this is going to be based on the fluctuation of RAM prices and tariffs, as well as whether or not Valve has an existing stockpile of RAM from 6 months ago.
FWIW, Sony just announced a Japan-only PS5, sans optical drive, for about $350. Now, US prices are remaining higher, but the GabeCube is likely to have less performance than a PS5. I can't see them going much over $600 and still having a value proposition. Even that is going to be based on the gigantic library of Steam games that can be played on it that aren't on the PS5.