If you were hoping for an affordable alternative to the PS5 or Xbox Series X, you may be disappointed. Valve has just clarified its pricing intentions for its future Steam Machine, and the bill could be steep. In a podcast from creator Skill Up, in-house programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed that the price of this hybrid machine would be “that of a PC rather than that of a console, with the games subsidizing the initial purchase of the hardware”.
In short, forget the promises of a $499 console. The Steam Machine targets a completely different category, that of High-end compact gaming PC.
A price aligned with performance, not the console market
The justification is simple: performance. “I think if you put a PC together with components and you get a similar level of performance, that’s the price range we’re aiming for,” says Griffais. The message is clear: it is not a question of selling a low-cost video game box, but rather a experience equivalent to that of a modern PCintegrated in a reduced format.
Valve admits that it would have been attractive to cut prices, but that is not the direction chosen. “Ideally, we would be very competitive and offer an attractive offer, but we are currently working to improve it,” adds Griffais. “It’s difficult to get a clear idea of the price because many factors fluctuate,” he admits, referring to the ever-changing costs of hardware, graphics chips and RAM.
A machine that wants to exceed living room PC standards
For Valve, the justification of the price also involves the unique technical specifications that this Steam Machine will offer. “You have features that are actually very difficult to build when you assemble your own gaming PC from parts, right?” Griffais points out. He mentions in particular the ultra-compact format of the device and emphasizes an often neglected but essential aspect for a salon machine: silence. “I think the level of sound we’ve achieved, or rather the lack of it, is really impressive.”
In summary, this Steam Machine will be neither a console nor a simple assembled PC. It wants to be a careful fusion of the two worlds, with care given to design, compactness, cooling and the overall user experience.
A risky bet… but accepted
It remains to be seen whether the players will follow. Analysts estimate that the Steam Machine could cost between $500 and $1,000a range which would make it inaccessible to part of the general public. But for Valve, the logic is different. The company does not seek to compete head-on with Sony or Microsoft, but to offer a premium alternative to PC gaming enthusiaststired of cumbersome towers or complex assemblies.
With this in mind, the Steam Machine is not a console that is ignoredbut one reformatting the gaming PCdesigned for the living room, with compromises made on price but increased demands on experience.