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Leaked pricing suggest Valve's gadget won't be cheap.
"Hello everyone and welcome back to another GRTV News. It's a new week and we're going to be kicking things off by talking a little bit about something that broke right at the end of the last week which is in regards to Valve and specifically the sort of hardware venture they have planned for this year which is the Steam Machine. Now there have been a lot of questions as of recent about what sort of price tag Valve will be looking to attach to this device because when they announced the Steam Machine they'd never shared that information. Judging by what they were hoping to achieve with it and some of the technology within the, you know, inside the device, there was always this expectation that it wasn't going to be cheap and you know you add to that the issue that technology across the board is facing with skyrocketing RAM prices and whatnot, you have to wonder whether this thing is going to be affordable whatsoever. Now the rumoured prices have come out and they're not cheap. I wouldn't say they're astronomically expensive but I would say that this alienates the Steam Machine from being an accessible piece of consumer technology and we'll dive into more why in a moment. So yeah, Steam Machine price leak hints at a $1,000 gamble from Valve. Valve's long rumoured Steam Machine is shaping up to be a slick compact gaming PC but leaked pricing suggests it won't come cheap. So expectations are high for Valve and their upcoming new hardware, not least the Steam Machine, the little wonder box filled with big promises, but how much will it actually cost? After all, price is crucial for sales and given the escalating costs of Nandi and RAM, this has been a hot topic of discussion in recent months."
"Now we may have the answer. According to leaked price information from a retailer, the Steam Machine will cost around $950 for the entry-level model with 512GB of storage or around $1,070 for the slightly more powerful 2TB model. These are, of course, only estimated prices based on currency conversion and considering possible markups from the retailer, the actual price may be lower. So Valve has not commented on the information itself and the explanation for the delay is believed to be due to the aforementioned crisis in the industry with escalating costs for specific components. Valve has also previously confirmed that it does not plan to subsidise the price. In any case, it is clear that the machine will cost slightly more than the PS5 or Xbox Series X, but will nevertheless hopefully be an attractive choice for those who want a neat and simple gaming PC in their living room or office. We'd be getting a Steam Machine and assuming the price above is correct, how do you think it's reasonable?
And it's also worth mentioning as well that the entry-level model being at $950 isn't really applicable to anyone because 512GB of storage is not a lot of storage for modern games. When you think about, for example, Call of Duty on consoles these days and it takes up like 180GB and then you consider the fact that whatever they say that there's 512GB of storage is always kind of a lie because you then have to store the operating systems on top of that. So do you really get 512GB of storage or will you get 450GB of storage? And then, you know, it gets to the point that can you actually store many games on this device? And it gets to the point where, again, when you look at that and you say $950 for the entry-level device, for the majority of people who are going to be looking at buying one of these things, 512GB of storage is not going to be what they want. So they'll be looking at the 2TB model to ensure they have ample room which then you're looking at $1,070 which, you know, the currency conversion rates, you're probably looking at like high £900 to get one of these things. I think if they do come out with these sort of price ranges, I think Valve's going to struggle a bit to market these things because there will be enthusiasts, don't get me wrong, that are interested in this. But PC gamers, the massive, massive community of PC gamers won't want one of these things because they're not powerful enough compared to their basic computers. And then the people who are probably looking at this as an accessible way to get into PC gaming, they're probably going to look at it and say that's a lot of money for a device when I can just do, let's say, very similar things on a console that costs half as much or for like a Nintendo Switch 2 for example, around a third as much. So I actually think this is a little bit concerning, the price model here. It wouldn't surprise me that Valve isn't too worried about selling lots of these units. I think they're more looking to just provide options. They're not looking to sweep the market and, you know, tap into tens of millions of users. I think they're more looking to offer options that they can then, you know, expand their business model a bit. Because if they were hoping to reach a huge audience, I think they've got to knock about 200, 300 pounds off the price of these things to make them even somewhat accessible to the wider consumer audience. But we'll see. Again, rumoured prices could be wide off the mark. But especially with the skyrocketing prices of some components, it wouldn't surprise me if this is the case. And obviously the other question that people will say is, with nearing the next generation of consoles, with PS6 and whatever Xbox we'll call theirs, will this be somewhat similar? I think you're looking at expensive consoles for the next generation, but I'd be surprised if they get close to this sort of price tag. Because that's a lot of money for a home device. I know it's a PC, I know that it's regarded as a PC, but it's really designed to slot into that sort of home console segment of the industry. But again, we'll see as more comes out. But the key thing to know is that Steam Machines are probably not going to be cheap. So if you are looking to get one, make sure to start putting some money aside now if you haven't already been doing it, because it's going to set you back quite a lot of... it's going to hit your bank account quite hard when this thing launches."
"But as we know more, we should keep you posted. Otherwise, that's all the time that I have. So thank you for joining me and I'll see you all on the next year TV News tomorrow. Take care everyone."
