Valve has finally confirmed the price for its eagerly awaited Steam Machine, a gaming PC that runs SteamOS, designed to provide a more streamlined, console-like experience. Except that its $1,609 starting price in Australia is distinctly un-console-like.
With listings for the device now live online, the Steam Machine comes in a few different configurations. One is just the PC with 512GB of internal storage, which carries the aforementioned $1,609 price tag locally. If you want a Steam Controller, too, you can bundle it in at a total cost of $1,728, which is $30 cheaper than buying the gamepad outright.
Need more storage? The only other configuration for now is 2TB, costing Australians $2,109. Similarly, there’s also a Steam Controller-inclusive bundle, retailing for $2,228. 512GB won’t go too far with modern games, many of which exceed 100GB install sizes. However, courtesy of the global memory shortage, components like RAM and storage cost an absolute mint right now.
Valve even admitted to Eurogamer that the Steam Machine price is “significantly more” than what the company originally had in mind. Lawrence Yang, who worked on the Steam Machine’s user interface, also confirmed that Valve produced “less than we wanted to be able to make” of the PC, contributing to a lottery-style buying system at launch.
No guarantees of buying a Steam Machine
To even get a Steam Machine in the first place, prospective buyers need to sign up for a list for the model they want to buy. Fortunately, it’s not a first-come, first-served system, with sign-ups open until 3:00 AM on Friday, 26 June, Sydney time.
From there, Valve will determine who can buy one via a “one-time randomisation”. Aussies who make the cut will receive an email on 26 June, confirming a Steam Machine reservation. Anyone else will be added to a waitlist.
In an effort to weed out scalpers, Valve requires potential buyers to have made a purchase on their Steam account before 27 April. As confirmed on Valve’s FAQs, each region also has a separate sign-up list, including Australia.
As for the price, Valve is one of many to feel the pinch of global economics. When it increased the price of the Steam Deck last month, the company cited “the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole.”
Today, Valve further clarified how it landed on the price of the Steam Machine, explaining that component shortages and increased costs had an impact.
“The overall effect is that our original goal for the price of Steam Machine is no longer viable,” Valve’s statement said.
While the company didn’t specify what price it originally planned for, it’s certainly far from being the only brand to have plans upended by the current state of hardware manufacturing.
The post Valve locks in $1,609 starting price for Steam Machine in Australia appeared first on GadgetGuy.
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