The tech industry, and therefore the gaming industry, is not a stable place at the moment. We’ve recently seen yet more price hikes for Xbox, PlayStation and Switch, and now Valve has followed by increasing the price of their Steam Deck handheld machine. By a whopping average of 41.%.
Citing “rising memory and storage costs” as the main driving factor behind the increases, Valve hasn’t just raised the price of their Steam Deck – they’ve sent them into orbit. Hell, into another galaxy, pretty much.
Here’s the new pricing.
| Model | Original UK | New UK | UK Increase | Original US | New US | US Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 512GB OLED | £479 | £649 | +£170 (36%) | $549 | $789 | +$240 (44%) |
| 1TB OLED | £569 | £779 | +£210 (37%) | $649 | $949 | +$300 (46%) |
Across the U.S and UK, the average increase is 40.96%. Of course, other regions have also seen the price boosted out of the atmosphere.
Most recently, Sony announced another price hike for the PS5. Meanwhile, Nintendo also announced an increase for their Switch and Switch 2. Microsoft beat everyone to the punch by doing it at the very start of May.
This doesn’t bode well for the eventual release of the new Steam Machine’s either. Speculation was already leaning toward them being quite pricey. Nor does it look good for the PS6 and Xbox Helix, either. We could be looking at a next-gen launch that the average consumer is completely locked out of.
WGB 