this post was submitted on 28 May 2026
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Valve recently raised the price on the Steam Deck, making the handheld gaming PC cost up to $949 for the 1TB OLED model. While that's a massive $300 increase over its original price, the Steam Deck is once again sold out.

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[–] theparadox@lemmy.world 136 points 1 month ago (8 children)

Honestly, the way shit is going, get what you can while you can. Gaming is only going to get worse and more expensive by the week.

[–] blah3166@piefed.social 70 points 1 month ago (11 children)

a steal if you consider tomorrow's prices

[–] Makhno@lemmy.world 70 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Im going to steal because I considered tomorrow prices

[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago (2 children)

A lot of people going to be feeling that way which is why I'm done walking around with my Deck out.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 23 points 1 month ago

But what about decks out for Harambe?

[–] urushitan@kakera.kintsugi.moe 9 points 1 month ago

Put your deck away Waltuh

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[–] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

This is why I went ahead and bought one last January, It’ll probably last at least 5 years(i hope), and I can pirate and emulate games much more easily than on a console to keep my entertainment budget lower. Just a year early

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Or maybe save some money because everything is going to get worse.

[–] theparadox@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

Sure. I guess it depends on your anticipated financial situation and your priorities.

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[–] Zarxrax@lemmy.world 62 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I can't imagine paying $1000 to play my backlog of under $5 games.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 32 points 1 month ago (11 children)

I mean...how big is that backlog and how much are you playing on the go? There's been no better device for handheld gaming, IMO, though I can see why it isn't tempting at that price.

[–] sompreno@lemmy.zip 11 points 1 month ago (7 children)

While the steam deck is a good device, it and every other modern handheld is designed like the switch which is more of a couch gaming experience rather theb a true portable for playing on the go

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Playing on the go is all I do with mine. Beats the hell out of a laptop.

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[–] mesamunefire@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I think the difference is that in 10 years when the steam deck is on its final legs, we can still play our games unlike most other consoles.

It might be a spare laptop, steam machine, or something else entirely. But we will presumibly be able to play.

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[–] artyom@piefed.social 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

If you're playing basic-ass games, an ARM/Android handheld may be a better bet anyway.

[–] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (10 children)

Especially considering you could play something like 50k emulated games that span 4 gaming console generations on a handheld that cost $35.

The SteamDeck is now a luxury.

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[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago

Sold out to whom, though... customers or scalpers?

[–] mrfriki@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 month ago

I saw another article that mentioned that eBay has them for cheaper than valve was selling them for. I checked and sure enough I can buy a 512gb version for 699 right now.

[–] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did it sell out to actual individuals or did scalpers buy up a bunch?

[–] mursejoy@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I’m not a scalper so idk what is normal, but I wouldn’t think it would be smart to buy something $300 over face value in an attempt to resell it for more? Especially hardware that is already long in the tooth internally. Aaaand from Valve who typically has consistently restocked these over time.

Idk though maybe there is a market for $1300 SD OLED resellers 🤷‍♂️

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[–] RxBrad@infosec.pub 22 points 1 month ago (9 children)

People are now conditioned to need INSTANT GRATIFICATION FOR EVERYTHING ALWAYS!

"I want a Steam Deck! I can't actually afford these new prices! I'm buying it anyways!"

Then retailers see the insane prices people pay for stuff without blinking. Steam Decks sell out after a 40% markup. RAM & SSDs & HDDs sell out at 4x what they sold for a year ago. So the prices never go back down.

And everyone goes full surprised-Pikachu-face when everything is now always goddamn expensive.

Show some fucking restraint for once, people!

Goddamn.

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago (2 children)

As we have seen, they won't and never will. This is arguing for gravity to stop pulling so hard.

The mechanism to fix the problem you're describing has broken long ago and everyone stopped trying to fix it. Your money needs more choices of where to be spent, then businesses will force each other to price things reasonably. If anyone can name all the companies that make a type of product, then that is not enough companies.

[–] brucethemoose@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

I posit it's a consumer culture issue.

Look at Temo, Tiktok, Amazon, YouTube; people are bombarded with "buy this on impulse!" every day, 24/7, through notifications. They're urged to buy high by dozens of influencers they're emotionally attached to.

So they do.

And now that's the culture. Competition isn't going to fix that, and doesn't naturally arise in that kind of environment anyway.

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[–] Geldaran@lemmy.world 19 points 1 month ago (4 children)

This may be my pessimism talking, but I feel like PC and Console gaming are probably both going the same route as Disney Theme Parks. If you have to ask how much it costs... If you aren't willing to blindly shell out too much for too little... Gaming won't be for you anymore. When it boils down to it, these things are luxuries. They've found their latest "limited production" excuse (AI gobbling up SSD, GPU, and RAM production) to pump up cost and there's definitely excess demand. Or at least enough scalpers willing to take that risk. Sure the cost spike will probably come back down some once the bubble pops, but if they keep selling out, then why would they ever lower the price again?

[–] Superorbit@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's definitely getting worse, but I feel like it won't get that bad. I don't think that the unaffordabiltiy of PC components will result in gaming becoming a niche commodity, I think it will result in people either not being able to play certain games, or not play them at the settings they want. I think gaming will persist via things like cheaper or used hardware. I think also some game developers will adjust the performance requirements of their games so that it meets (or attempts to meet) the reality of what people are able to buy. Triple A gaming might die tho if they don't adapt.

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[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago

Not that surprising - people are perfectly willing to spend money they don't have on stuff they don't need and then complain about how bad the economy is.

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wonder if this just means the supply was really low.

Considering the current ebay pricing, it doesn't really make sense for any scalper to buy it unless they think it will become some weird coveted collectors item.

Either way rip steam machine. I hope they continue to fund Proton and Lepton because it really made a massive impact for gaming on Linux.

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[–] orenj@leminal.space 15 points 1 month ago (15 children)

Where are all these people getting their money from??? And time to play video games???

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[–] TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com 14 points 1 month ago

Jensen Huang bought them all because fuck you.

[–] melfie@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I got a Steam Deck LCD 64GB for $350 and then put a 1TB SSD in it, so like $430 total. I love the SD, but it’s just not worth double that. A gaming laptop with a 4050 goes for about $800 now, so the current pricing isn’t really that good of a deal even at today’s prices.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 13 points 1 month ago

In a more perfect world: Philanthropic scalpers buy up Steam Decks to sell back to regular joes at previously low price, taking a loss on the sale.

[–] zewm@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This article is untrue. I can literally buy one right now in the US. This is just fake FOMO hyping.

[–] tal@lemmy.today 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Looking at the bottom of your screenshot, I note the text:

"Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages."

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Valve randomly stocks tthe steam deck all the time. I swear they've got like one guy running the whole show, and he stocks things one unit at a time.

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[–] CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 month ago (5 children)

After reading so much hate on Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft for years, especially over their pricing, its somewhat hilarious to see only one or two comments out of dozens here calling out the high price of this handheld console.

Like Nintendo raised the price of the Switch 2 by $50 to a whopping $499 and people will mock and berate you if you say you bought one.

[–] tempest@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 month ago (4 children)

I mean it's not hard to do the math.

Steam has 15 years of good will so they get the benefit of the doubt.

The others have more sordid history so people are less charitable.

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[–] razen@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago

Many of you are lying about being unemployed our there.

[–] Lazer365@feddit.nl 7 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I love the Steam Deck, but it’s definitely not worth $1000. That’s absolutely ridiculous. I guess I’m going to find a new hobby, gaming is becoming way too expensive.

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

There's countless good games that work on older equipment. You could play for the rest of your life on just that slightly older stuff and not get through half of it.

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[–] nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is too expensive for me.

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[–] NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 month ago

"Superyachts aren't expensive, Gaben owns several"

[–] ISolox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

If they have to sell it at this price I doubt they have many in stock to begin with.

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