In a blog post, Valve detailed its Verified programs for Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and insists both pieces of hardware are still coming this summer.
Valve Reaffirms Steam Machine Summer Launch
https://www.ign.com/articles/valve-reaffirms-steam-machine-summer-launch
49 Comments
user_6282638282@sopuli.xyz · 63 pts · 83d
Before the comments just become another pricing argument, I want to say I'm still hyped. These look like really cool products.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 31 pts · 83d
Hard to be hyped about something I'm almost inevitably not going to be able to afford, though. No matter how badly I want the frame.
Eyck_of_denesle@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 82d
True. Atleast in the past, one could expect to buy a while after it's release. But since covid the prices only go up. This shit killed the enthusiastic version of me.
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org · 22 pts · 83d
Definitely, Especially the Frame.
voytrekk@sopuli.xyz · 13 pts · 83d
I'm excited for the frame, just worried about the cost.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 82d
Yeah, and going by my steam deck, I'm thinking valve does good hardware
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org · 35 pts · 83d
Still suspicious that they won't even settle for a price range. Summer is almost here, so they have to have them made already. At this point I'm certain it's going to be 4 digits and not even barely
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 51 pts · 83d
It's only suspicious if you haven't been watching the wildly swinging RAM pricing. It would be a far worse experience for Steam and for the consumer if they set a price and had to keep jacking it up before the product had even been released.
rtxn@lemmy.world · 32 pts · 83d
There's no winning strategy to reveal the price. Announce a low price early and release a much more expensive product, they get flayed alive. Announce a high price, public interest falls off a cliff. Keeping potential customers guessing at least keeps the Gabecube in the news cycle.
user_6282638282@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 83d
Don't announce a price and see every single comment section devolve into pricing discourse.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 12 pts · 83d
Has it really been "wildly swinging"? Been pretty solidly one direction, no?
ampersandrew@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 83d
No, because some of the supply constraints we thought were locked in contracts were actually just handshake agreements that fell through, so that frees up supply and sends prices back down a bit. There's also the part where this came for RAM first, but then SSDs were hit on a lag because a lot of the same tech is used, and then HDDs were hit on a lag because SSDs were scarce. HDDs don't really factor into these devices, but there are ripple effects that can make predicting long-term costs difficult.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 2 pts · 83d
Where have you seen prices coming down at all? I have only seen up up up.
ampersandrew@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 83d
RAM prices came down a bit in mid-April, as I said, when one of those deals fell through because it wasn't actually set in stone, and one of those major AI companies was less cash rich than everyone thought. That doesn't mean it's back to where we started, but they came down from their peak, at least for a time, and have somewhat stabilized since then. We're also seeing data centers meet opposition, not just legally but logistically, and folks are trying to read the tea leaves there for prices, too.
iamthetot@piefed.ca · 1 pts · 83d
Must be regional because I've been looking and have not seen a dip ðŸ˜
Goodeye8@piefed.social · 2 pts · 82d
It can also wildly swing in one direction. The price can go up by a small amount or an insane amount. Creates this funny situation where you either price too high and lose customers or price too low and lose money on every sale, doesn't matter what you do you're not going to win. The only thing to do is postpone as long as possible in hopes of prices stabilizing and then release it at the current market price and pray the costs don't keep rising.
In short, everything is fucked and it's the worst time probably ever to release new hardware.
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 83d
Sure, even if it has never turned downwards - then constantly rising prices still makes the point.
MaggiWuerze@feddit.org · 2 pts · 83d
They might have to increase it later, but the batches they already have are of a known price. This just looks like they want to see how much ram prices soar so they can see how much they can ask for the thing
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 83d
Of all companies, I think Valve deserves the benefit of the doubt. You're ascribing business practices to Valve that I have no memory of them using.
0ops@piefed.zip · 3 pts · 83d
They literally just upped the price of their steam decks by a few hundred dollars, with no hardware upgrades, to compensate for the increased price of said hardware. They're a business, they'll charge what nets them the most money. What other reason would they have to not announce the price than not yet deciding what would be most profitable for them? They need to strike a balance between charging enough to cover the cost of components and not so much that they start to lose potential sales, so it's exactly like the other guy said, they're waiting to see what the prices of components will do before announcing prices for their products that are optimal for money-making.
Tilgare@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 83d
Charging more to cover their costs is NOT the same thing as maliciously price gouging (which is what was alluded to here).
If the cost of materials goes up, the cost of the device goes up. They're a business not a charity. I think we both fully agree that they are waiting to see where prices land closer to launch to determine the final pricing of the device. But I don't agree that they're optimizing for profit. They already know what margin they expect from this device and might even be planning on eating some margin to keep the price competitive.
The Steamdeck, pre-RAMpocalypse, was maybe one of the best values in gaming hardware, in part because they were subsidizing the price like Sony and Microsoft do for home consoles. Any other handheld PC on the market was 2-3x the price. They can't be expecting that same kind of sales volume from the Steam Machine, so the amount they can afford to subsidize will be lower for sure.
Bakkoda@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d
I'm blown away people thought it wouldn't be tbh. Once the specs were released this was always gonna be 1-2k range given the current anti consumerism market.
kboos1@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 83d
Before we get our hopes up, remember that saying "launch in summer" still could mean up to 4 months from now, summer technically ends in September.
InceptioN@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d
They promised CS2 will release in Summer 2023
It released publicly on September 27th
Trail@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 82d
Technically ends right before September.
kboos1@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 82d
Do you mean summer break or the actual season? The season end September 22
nullify3112@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d
According to which technique??
SchwertImStein@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 0 pts · 82d
are you americ*n?
lonefighter@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 83d
Everyone over here arguing about the price and I'm just remembering how we got Half Life Alyx when they released the Index and hoping they surprise release HL3 with the launch of the Steam Machine and have it compatible with the PC.
InvalidName2@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 83d
Steam Machine is (or will be) a PC, so I'm not sure how they would/could make HL3 and not have it be compatible with PC. Or am I missing something?
lonefighter@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 83d
I'm sure it would be, I'm more just referring to how HL Alyx was VR only and upset a lot of people
Nibodhika@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 82d
It could be Linux exclusive, which for most people outside of the Linux bubble is what PC means. That being said I doubt Valve would do that.
InvalidName2@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 82d
You shouldn't doubt Valve would do that. You should know they absolutely would never do that.
makyo@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 83d
It would be exactly the chance they would use to release a new game. It’d be an opportunity to show off the features on their new controller too.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d
I'm hoping they release it for the steam frame.
detren@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 82d
I remember there being rumors years and years ago that they were working on a VR + flatscreen online game. No idea if it’s still a thing but it would be the perfect release for these.
Chivera@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 82d
It's going to be $1999.99 isn't it.
auzy1@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 82d
I sold my quest 2's in preparation for this
Will happily re buy pistol whip on steam
offspec@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 82d
For this or the steam frame?
auzy1@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 82d
Steam frame. Already have a rog Ally x and dock. Would be nice to have better performance though
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d
Yeah I'm tempted by the steam frame. Never tried VR. But I'm not sure my old 3050 laptop will have the muscle to play decent games for it, might wait and see.
auzy1@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d
Yeah. As already mentioned steam frame doesn't need a computer
That being said, there are a few good games, but also lots of shit ones
jackal@feddit.uk · 1 pts · 82d
You don’t need a PC for the Steam Frame
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 82d
Yeah I know it'll run stuff itself - Snapdragon processor yeah? But I'm not sure how that will do with graphically intensive stuff, I guess that's why it'll steam from a PC
IamLost@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 83d
Steamdeck increased in price 200-300 dollars and still sold out. It made the Switch 2's $50 price increase seem cheap. Steam machine is going to be way overpriced and still do well. I don't have any faith prices will go back to anything reasonable anymore because people have shown they'll buy it at these prices.
RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 83d
Did Valve say how many units they restocked at that price? With RAM still being hard to come by, I can't see them restocking very many units. Less inventory will sell out faster.
LemmyEntertainYou@piefed.social · 1 pts · 83d
I think I'm more likely going to buy the Playnix console of it comes back in stock. The Steam Machine won't fit in my TV unit and based on the reviews of the Steam Controller I'm not that bothered by its inclusion.
Fedegenerate@fedinsfw.app · 4 pts · 83d
I'll wait for the price steam sets, and compare it to the performance of minis I can get at that price. I'll give Valve a boost, because I believe in the quality, and Devs will target that hardware.
But, my Beelink mini, I'm using as a sever, has been going strong.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 2 pts · 83d
yeah I mean I did not buy a steamdeck until the first price drop.