No escaping inflation right now, somehow an even worse time for consumers than the already bad times of recent years. Shit is way too expensive and it seems like prices won’t go down any time soon. And this goes for everything, from staples like groceries and gasoline, to luxuries like technology and entertainment. But even at a time when price hikes are commonplace, what Valve has just done is unprecedented. They’re raising the price on their proprietary Steam Deck handheld gaming system by an exorbitant amount. Like, legitimately a “f**k you” amount.
As we saw in a BlueSky post by Wario 64, Valve’s prices for the Steam Deck have gone up close to 50%.
Valve has raised Steam Deck prices in the US
• 1TB OLED $649 -> $949
• 512GB OLED $549 -> $789still out of stock
Now, $650 for a handheld was already pretty damned expensive. Nintendo’s Switch 2 is only $499.99, for example. But, given the robustness of Steam as a gaming platform and a digital storefront, it’s somewhat understandable. But going up by $300?! Nearly a thousand dollars for a gaming system when nobody in America can afford to drive places is truly criminal.
Valve is clearly trying to keep pace with Sony. Earlier this year, PlayStation announced the prices of its PS5 console would increase. The PS5 Pro went up to $899.99, which is crazy expensive. However, that’s a full console with 4K capabilities. The Steam Deck is still just a handheld. A very good handheld, but not in the ballpark of a PlayStation 5. Valve also announced its own console a while back, but no date or price for that have materialized, owing to costs of everything. So is raising the price of Steam Deck just a way to subsidize the Steam Machine?
It’s a rough time in the gaming world for everyone, but it’s an especially bad time for people trying to get into playing games. Video games are a bigger industry than movies but with a much, much higher cost of entry. With thousand-dollar consoles and AAA games heading steadily toward $100 per game, this century’s definitive artform looks to also be its most exclusive.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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