Steam Machine 'Will be Priced Like a PC, Rather Than Like a Console' - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 20 November 2025 / 4,879 Views
Valve plans to price the upcoming Steam Machine "like a PC, rather than like a console," according to a Valve spokesperson who spoke with Linus Tech Tips' Linus Sebastian.
Sony and Microsoft have increased the price of their current-generation consoles this year with the PS5 available for $500 for the Digital Edition, $550 for the standard PS5, and $750 for the PS5 Pro. The Xbox Series X is now priced at $600 for the Digital model, $650 for the standard Series X, and $800 for the 2TB Series X. Series S is available for $400 for the 512 GB model and $450 for the 1TB model.
What Valve is stating suggests the Steam Machine will be sold more profit.
"Valve wasn’t able to give any specific numbers due to the ‘rapidly evolving market conditions’, but they will obviously have it nailed down when the Steam Machine launches in Q1 202, alongside the new Steam Controller," said Sebastian (via VideoGamesChronicle).
"They did offer me one hint, though: they said that while they expect it to be very competitively priced with a PC, it will be priced like a PC, rather than like a console with games subsidizing the upfront hardware purchase.
"They wouldn’t say why, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s partially to avoid stepping on the margin opportunities of their potential partners for Steam games and Steam software, but also because they recognize that the Steam Machine is a full-fledged PC.
"So there’s no guarantee then that, say, a corporate purchase of 10,000 of these things would result in a single game sale, so they really do need to protect the sustainability of their harbor business."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can follow the author on Bluesky.
More Articles
So it's just going to be a weaker PC, then. Got it.
Flop, flop, flop then. Gabe was not particularly well insighted about the last steam machine; I guess the same can be said the second time around.
Not going to sell very well then. The specs of it are below PS5, and a home builder can build a PC that roughly matches the specs of the 512 GB SSD model for about about $550 (I just did on PC Part Picker), less if they buy each part on a good sale.
This should have been something they subsidized to get a foothold in the tv attached console market.
I disagree, why get into taking a loss for an open platform PC because at the end of the day this device is not a closed system. Valve doesn't get anything for making it a closed system and if people decide to take this hardware and use it for things other than playing SteamOS games or even a game system, Valve is out of money. Naw, it should be priced at a moderate profit just like any custom built PC and Valve should use that money to make deals that enhances their SteamOS.
$1000 - For the Steam Machine
$1500 - For Xbox-PC
People have a distorted view of what fair pricing is when it comes to consoles because of the intense competition between Sony and MS driving down the prices of their hardware to quite an extreme degree. XBSX was 350$ at one point when it cost them 700$ to make lol
Welp, looks like I'm going all in on PS6
Well-I’m definitely out-Back to my PS5 & Switch 2.
As it stands, it is at a disadvantage compared to both PCs and consoles.
My first instinct was to say that the world is greedier than it use to be. But really, it's the consumers who are to blame. If we're going to accept less for more, then they're going to keep giving us less for more. It's up to us to stop them.
If it was more strong than a console at the moment sure 1000$ fine but weaker make its a hard sell.
So it's basically a Mac Mini competitor. We'll see how much it ships.
To be fair, pc prince ranges are super wide
Well the PC parts only come out to about $450-500... Soooooooo
Yeah, and that's not in the mega-bulk that they're getting them for.
Lost interest then.
Well everything is relative. It does make sense because they can't sell it at a loss and make up for it in software like consoles (used to?) do, but it still better be priced for the mid range PC that it is.
mistake from valve, it is their opportunity to sidestep microsoft
they have to sell this at a loss, you don't have that kind of opportunity that often
my pinky says, they know what's looming in the coming years (Taiwan war with China)
if you need pc parts, upgrade this year, don't wait
Yeah, the Chinese told Steam about their upcoming secret invasion.
As I said during the reveal, $600 is the bare minimum, if they were willing to take a hit for a year or so, but I expect more.
I would guess it will be announced as $800.
Not in that form factor though. That makes it more expensive.
That's not necessarily true
less material and smaller footprint/weight would lead to heavy savings on Valves end and could easily offset the cost of the manufacturing for parts on custom boards and assembly
yep agreed. $800 is what I figure. It's competing as a budget gaming PC, not as a console. Under $1000 is the sweet spot for a budget gaming PC I think, and given that it's a bit on the weaker side for 2025/2026 $800 for a lower storage model and $900 for higher storage seems about right.
