Steam Machine Will Be Priced Like a PC With 'Same Level of Performance', Valve Says

Valve has confirmed that the Steam Machine will not be priced like a console and instead follow the pricing model for a comparable PC. The company did not share a price range for the upcoming PC/console hybrid and said that it had not finalised the pricing internally yet. But the Steam Machine's price would be in line with a PC that performs similarly, Valve said.

The Steam Machine's prospective price has become a point of debate and discussion since the device was unveiled earlier this month. Valve introduced the PC/console hybrid along with a new controller and a VR headset but did not share pricing for any of its new devices.

But speaking on the newest episode of the Friends Per Second podcast, Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais said that the Steam Machine's price will be in line with an equivalent PC rather than a console.

“I think that if you build a PC from parts and get to basically the same level of performance, that's the general price window that we aim to be at,” he said. “Ideally, we'd be pretty competitive with that and have a pretty good deal, but we're working on refining that as we speak, and right now is just a hard time to have a really good idea of what the price is going to be because there's a lot of different things that are fluctuating.”

Steam Machine to Follow PC Pricing

Valve confirmed that the Steam Machine won't be subsidised like consoles usually are. Both Sony and Microsoft take a hit on retail pricing of PlayStation and Xbox consoles with the intent to generate revenue through services sold on their platforms. In addition to subscription services like PS Plus and Game Pass, both companies get a cut on every purchase on their respective digital storefronts. That's not Valve's plan.

“No, it's more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market,” Griffais said. “Obviously, our goal is for it to be a good deal at that level of performance. And then you have features that are actually really hard to build if you're making your own gaming PC from parts.

“Things like the small form factor and I think the noise level that we achieved or lack thereof is really impressive, and we're excited that the people are going to find out how quiet this thing is.

Griffais went on to talk about some of the features that will ship with the Steam Machine, like HDMI CEC, controller turn on, turn off support, among other things, that are “pretty valuable.”

“There's not really a price point to that, because it's not something that exists in the PC market right now,” he said.

Griffais also said that Valve could be open to making a “Pro” version of the Steam Machine with higher specifications in the future.

“Potentially, yeah. I think we're open to anything. For now, we're focussing on this level of spec because we think it's a good trade-off between affordability and the level of power we get,” he said.

Valve's comment on the Steam Machine's PC-like price comes after Linus Sebastian of Linus Tech Tips suggested the device could be priced above the console standard of $500. The company's update does indeed suggest that the Steam Machine will be priced above $500, akin to PCs that feature similar specifications.

Both PS5 and Xbox Series X launched at $500 in 2020 but have since become costlier. The Steam Machine will launch alongside the new Steam Controller and Steam Frame VR headset in early 2026.