Earlier this year, the ongoing RAM shortage caused by the tech industry's ravenous, never-ending demand for memory to fuel the AI craze began to seriously cut into the supply needed for handheld gaming systems like the Steam Deck, resulting in the stock of Valve's beloved device rapidly drying up.
The firm promised its customers that it was "working very hard on" getting the Steam Deck available again about a month ago, in late April, explaining that it was seeking to partner with as many different RAM manufacturers as possible to help contend with shortages. Now, that restock has finally come...but it's come at a cost. A monetary one — and one that's unfortunately been passed down to buyers like you and I.
Indeed, Valve announced a major price increase for the Steam Deck alongside the news that it's once again available to purchase on Wednesday morning. The Steam Deck OLED 512GB is now $789 (up from $549), while the Steam Deck OLED 1TB is now $949 (up from $649).
"Steam Deck OLED is back in stock, with a price increase for both models due to rising memory and storage costs," the company wrote in its blog post. "Steam Deck itself hasn't changed; these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes."
Those are price hikes of $240 and $300, respectively — about 44% and 46% in percentages. That's a pretty brutal increase for a device that's typically seen as the best budget-friendly handheld gaming PC, and reflects just how difficult it is for manufacturers like Valve to sell hardware at a profit during the memory crisis.
Sadly, now that Valve no longer creates the original LCD Steam Deck and exclusively makes the OLED models, there's no longer a way to get a new Steam Deck from Valve directly without paying a pretty penny. You can certainly try your luck on resale sites like eBay, but prices there have shot up, too.
Ultimately, this price jump significantly reduces the Steam Deck's value proposition and majorly shrinks one of the advantages it had over competing handhelds like the ROG Ally, the Legion Go 2, and the Xbox Ally. I don't think we'll see the cost go back to normal any time soon, either; AI datacenters are projected to hog 70% of all RAM this year.
The situation is frustrating, but from Valve's perspective, I imagine the only way it could sell the Steam Deck for less is if it did so at a loss — something it doesn't want to do, and may not be able to afford to do while it's also trying to gear up to sell its delayed upcoming console-like Steam Machine PC.
In the end, I suppose we should be glad that there are even Steam Decks to buy at all, even if they're ridiculously expensive now. If you really want one and have the money to afford it, you can buy it on the official Steam Deck store page.
Do you think the Steam Deck is worth buying now that it's gotten a big price hike? Share your opinion in the comments and in our poll.
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