Steam Deck price hike has completely destroyed sales, new data suggests

[Alfonso Maruccia]

Death of Gaming: Just like any other company dealing in hardware products built from off-the-shelf components, Valve is facing some truly difficult choices when it comes to pricing. The company tried to fend off the chip shortage caused by the AI boom with a massive price increase, but potential customers apparently responded by removing themselves from the buying equation.

A recent report by Boiling Steam might confirm what most enthusiasts have always suspected: an overpriced Steam Deck is never going to sell well. In fact, Valve's handheld machine might have already suffered a disastrous drop in sales. Despite the price hike, Valve is earning far less money than it did before.

Boiling Steam used the same methodology it employed to estimate Steam Machine sales, tracking data points from Steam's own global list of best-selling games and products. The outlet compared the Steam Deck's ranking throughout 2025, when it was often listed fairly high on the sales chart. Things changed in 2026, when Valve decided to retire the older – and cheaper – LCD models and offer only the OLED models at a significantly higher price.

At first, OLED Steam Decks appeared to sell out despite the $300 price hike. According to new estimates from Boiling Steam, sales have now undergone yet another dramatic change. Valve is selling 82% fewer units than it did in 2025. Steam Deck sales have allegedly fallen from 11,000 – 18,000 units per week to an average of 1,400 – 3,000 units per week.

Valve tried to offset the massive increase in component prices by passing the supply-chain surcharge on to customers. According to Boiling Steam's estimates, the company is now suffering from a 72% drop in revenue as well. Despite the price hike, Valve might have significantly diminished the Steam Deck's appeal as an enticing option for handheld gaming enthusiasts.

Boiling Steam speculates that the Steam Deck was an interesting option when it sold for $650 but is a complete waste of money when priced at around $1,000 for the 1TB model. Furthermore, affluent gamers looking for a handheld at that price point will likely gravitate toward more powerful machines, such as the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ or the Asus ROG Ally X.

If the publication's methodology checks out, we might soon see a dramatic collapse in Steam Machine sales as well. The IT industry is currently going through a series of massive transformations, which means it's probably too early to say that the Steam Deck is completely finished. After all, Valve engineers recently confirmed that things can always get worse.

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Steam Deck price hike has completely destroyed sales, new data suggests

 

[axiomatic13]

I think there are better HW options now is the real issue. As you wrote.

 

[Linux Mint Xfce]

Oops

 

[yRaz]

I think there are better HW options now is the real issue. As you wrote.

Well, the steam machine has over taken the steam deck. I think its really that most people would rather get the steam machine over the steam deck at this point. That, and the steams deck advantage always was that it was cheap

 

[noel24]

As long as wages don't catch up to price hikes, You will see collapse. Constant game of chasing the rabbit. Only corpos getting greedier all the time. We must just live in the era of technological decline, not realising this yet. WW1 wasn't named one until WW2 happened, You know.

 

[m4a4]

I mean, what is the industry trend? It's not like the Steam Deck is the only piece of hardware getting hit by massive price hikes because of the rampocalypse.

This article makes it seem unique to it...

 

[user556]

It's not like the Steam Deck is the only piece of hardware getting hit by massive price hikes because of the rampocalypse.

Exactly. And yRaz has the real answer - Steam Machine has taken the buyers.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

As long as wages don't catch up to price hikes, You will see collapse. Constant game of chasing the rabbit. Only corpos getting greedier all the time. We must just live in the era of technological decline, not realising this yet. WW1 wasn't named one until WW2 happened, You know.

How could wages keep up with shortage pricing? That's not corpo greed or technological decline it's basic supply and demand for any product. Companies don't give raises because a particular product became temporarily expensive.

"What do they teach them at these schools!" - Professor Kirke, Chronicles of Narnia

 

[NumberNine]

Times are tight, no room for fluff.

Fortunately Valve has one of the most solid incoming revenue streams on the face of the planet and they are privately owned, so they can tank this and keep going with no investor pearl clutching.

This is what I mean when I say most companies couldn't stomach the numbers. Valve can. They're not using frightened half-measures or corporate welfare either.

 

[hahahanoobs]

It aged worse than a console.
Just get an Ally X instead.

 

[Arthurik_jan]

I don't get it. While reading this it feels like somehow Valve could have done something about the rising prices almost all across the board. What were they supposed to do? Not pass the costs onto the customers? Everyone is moving less product these days. They are not Google, Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony et al. in the sense that they don't lock users into their ecosystems and milk them for what they are worth. Valve has been a conscientious bunch, thus far. The price hike makes sense.

 

[The Talking Tech]

Good, very good news!

Corporate bootlickers will always defend their lords' corporate decisions, but it seems that reality finally sunk in.

You shouldn't be buying anything like that if you are barely making a living, and let's face it, most people are barely making it financially.

 

[LordVile95]

Valve tried to pull a fast one and upped the price a lot more than the costs had increased and it’s pushed the steam deck into the realm of better hardware like the Xbox ally D which is now only about £80 more expensive than the steam deck and has basic features like VRR, better performance and can run more games

 

[Thatsdisgusting]

How could wages keep up with shortage pricing? That's not corpo greed or technological decline it's basic supply and demand for any product. Companies don't give raises because a particular product became temporarily expensive.

"What do they teach them at these schools!" - Professor Kirke, Chronicles of Narnia

There's a catch - target audience for these things are zoomers and millenials. And the last things that these are gonna cut spendings on are vapes, monowheels, vibrators/masturbators AND gaming consoles. They're more likely to live in an empty rented flat without proper bad or matress on a floor than without mentioned "necessities"

 

[hahahanoobs]

I don't get it. While reading this it feels like somehow Valve could have done something about the rising prices almost all across the board. What were they supposed to do? Not pass the costs onto the customers? Everyone is moving less product these days. They are not Google, Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony et al. in the sense that they don't lock users into their ecosystems and milk them for what they are worth. Valve has been a conscientious bunch, thus far. The price hike makes sense.

The article reads like customers and fans can't justify the price hike anymore. This is basic stuff.

 

[BlackyNoir]

I think there are better HW options now is the real issue. As you wrote.

The issue is that hardware is never alone. You can't do anything with it without software.

And I've yet to see a single handheld that comes even remotely close to the Steam Deck as far as software and user experience.

 

[godrilla]

It aged worse than a console.
Just get an Ally X instead.

When will the Ally X get official fsr4.1 support vs 3.5?
Crazy part is both Sony ( via pssr2 on PS) and Valve ( via steam machine)helped improve with fsr4.1 on rdna 4 and now rdna 3 but not the current handheld flagship of rdna 3.5. Microsoft Xbox ally x didn't move the needle ( what a useless partnership imo)
On the other hand MSI Claw 8 AI+ A2VM supports xess 3 and multi frame gen and is selling close to the Ally X and the premium Steam deck oled.
While supplies last.

 

[ActualViking]

Seems to me all Steam hardware costs crazy money.

For portable gaming I'd highly recommend getting a Sony PSP. It is of course somewhat older tech, but they can be found, there is great games for the platform and the ergonomics and all are really good.

 

[rmcrys]

As long as wages don't catch up to price hikes, You will see collapse. Constant game of chasing the rabbit. Only corpos getting greedier all the time. We must just live in the era of technological decline, not realising this yet. WW1 wasn't named one until WW2 happened, You know.

+1000

Almost a decade ago some people decided the way to go would be AI, produce less but charge way more. A friend of mine told me and I didn't believe him. Now I do.

Specially the US controlled markets (Europe, Israel, Commonwealth countries, some Asian markets) are sensitive to the ultra capitalism that the US has been promoting:

Step 1) wages go up very little, prices go up a lot, profitability increases a lot and stocks holders are happy

Step 2) owning becomes very expensive, so you have to rent from the rich or from companies. You earn to be able to live. Nothing is yours.

Step 3) AI from the ultra rich substitutes many jobs, companies pay a AI subscription the the ultra rich + companies earn more.

You ask yourself: so.. what happens to the normal person? Just use your imagination. In Europe you already have a lot less births than deaths...

 

[acrossthestars]

The Steam Deck was never meant to be a powerhouse of a gaming handheld. It wasn't when it released and it's not now. What the Steam Deck did was give the gaming industry a "floor"―a standardized hardware package for other machines to compare their performance again, at a price just cheap enough for people to find intriguing―and it served its duty admirably. But, time marches on and 4 years have passed since the Deck was released. Even through various hardware iterations, which are really tune-ups and refinements, the Steam Deck's core power target is unchanged.

It is said, "there are no bad products, only bad prices" and that holds true here. The Steam Deck did not suddenly become a worse product because of price hikes. It's just less enticing because of them. In a world where new products seem to appear every 5 seconds and the algorithm only favors the shiny, cool thing over the tried and tested, a static, unchanging gaming handheld with performance from 2 generations ago, coupled with a price tag from this year, is a bad product now.

The Steam Deck can be repaired, but it cannot be appreciably upgraded. It's too integrated, for that to be viable.

 

[Cabuzzi]

Seems to me all Steam hardware costs crazy money.

For portable gaming I'd highly recommend getting a Sony PSP. It is of course somewhat older tech, but they can be found, there is great games for the platform and the ergonomics and all are really good.

Might as well get a Nintendo Switch instead. Better games, better support, better longevity.

 

[AnilD]

At roughly $650, the Deck is a charming portable PC with excellent software support. Near $1,000, customers suddenly remember that faster competing handhelds and actual laptops exist.

 

[daffy duck]

It took long enough for people to come to their senses.

Stop buying rip-off tech for next several years.

 

[Namtrooper]

Honestly I would still love a steam deck but I don't know if playing on a large TV or a small deck using my glasses, would mean my eyes might become worse using one over the other? I'd guess the steam deck would be worse on my eyes than playing on the large screen. Plus steam doesn't ship stuff to my country so I would have to jump through hoops to get it. I would also want a more modern take on the unit by now. Not that there is anything wrong with the latest version. I would most likely only want to play small short indie games on it instead trying to play 100+ hour games anyway.