{"id":458986,"date":"2026-02-07T04:09:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/458986\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T04:09:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T04:09:12","slug":"why-700-could-be-a-death-sentence-for-the-steam-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/458986\/","title":{"rendered":"Why $700 could be a “death sentence” for the Steam Machine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bad news for Valve in particular?<\/p>\n

On the surface, it might seem like every company making gaming hardware would be similarly affected by increasing component costs. In practice, though, analysts suggested that Valve might be in a uniquely bad position to absorb this ongoing market disruption.<\/p>\n

Large console makers like Sony and Microsoft \u201ccan commit to tens of millions of orders, and have strong negotiating power,\u201d Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out. The Steam Machine, on the other hand, is \u201ca niche product that cannot benefit in the same way when it comes to procurement,\u201d meaning Valve has to shoulder higher component cost increases.<\/p>\n

F-Squared\u2019s Futter echoed that Valve is \u201cnot an enormous player in the hardware space, even with the Steam Deck\u2019s success. So they likely don\u2019t have the same kind of priority as a Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft when it comes to suppliers.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n \"PlayStation
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Sony and Microsoft might have an advantage when negotiating volume discounts with suppliers.<\/p>\n

\n Credit:
\n Sam Machkovech\n <\/p>\n

\n Sony and Microsoft might have an advantage when negotiating volume discounts with suppliers.<\/p>\n

Credit:<\/p>\n

Sam Machkovech<\/p>\n

The size of the Steam Machine price adjustment also might depend on when Valve made its supply chain commitments. \u201cIt\u2019s not clear when or if Valve locked in supply contracts for the Steam Machine, or if supply can be diverted from the Steam Deck for the new product,\u201d Tech Insights analyst James Sanders noted. On the other hand, \u201cSony and Microsoft likely will have locked in more favorable component pricing before the current spike,\u201d Van Dreunen said.<\/p>\n

That said, some other aspects of the Steam Machine design could give Valve some greater pricing flexibility. Sanders noted that the Steam Machine\u2019s smaller physical size could mean smaller packaging and reduced shipping costs for Valve. And selling the system primarily through direct sales via the web and Steam itself eliminates the usual retailer markups console makers have to take into account, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Valve was hoping for a much lower price and that the component issue would be short-term,\u201d Cole said. \u201cObviously it is looking more like a long-term issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bad news for Valve in particular? On the surface, it might seem like every company making gaming hardware…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":458987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-458986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/458987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}