Valve explains why they didn’t make the Steam Machine cheaper than a console

Valve has officially announced the price of its upcoming Steam Machines, and it’s a lot more expensive than most consoles. Well, now the company has spoken out on why it’s that costly.

After months of speculation, Valve has now revealed official pricing for the Steam Machine. The base 512GB Steam Machine will cost $1,049, while the 2TB version costs a whopping $1,349. Those prices place the Steam Machine well above current console costs. The PS5 retails for $599.99, the Xbox Series X costs $649.99, and even the PS5 Pro comes in lower at $899.99.

Naturally, that’s left plenty of players wondering why it’s so costly, blaming the increase in hardware costs and Valve itself. Following this, Valve has officially responded, revealing exactly why it’s the price and why it’s in players’ best interests that it isn’t cheaper.

Valve says subsidized hardware goes against its philosophy

Sharing the launch of the Steam Machine, Valve explained that “The traditional console model is to sell hardware at a loss and make up the revenue with subscription services or by selling games that are locked-in to the hardware. We think this can make sense for a single business in the short term but that open ecosystems are better for customers over the long term.”

Essentially, Valve doesn’t want to have to introduce exclusive games or subscription services to help bring down the price of the Steam Machine. By making it a little more expensive, the company removes the need to charge players in the future for the console they’ve already purchased.

Valve/Unsplash

Speaking to The Verge, Valve went on to explain that “You shouldn’t feel like you have to buy Valve hardware; you should be able to view it as just one option alongside all the devices for playing games, and select the one that makes sense for you. This means you get to decide which device fits your personal tradeoffs around things like price, performance, form factor, peripheral support, and everything else you care about. That’s the strength of the open PC platform, and subsidizing hardware runs counter to it.”

So, instead of relying on future software sales to offset hardware costs, Valve says the Steam Machine is essentially being sold at cost, with Valve’s Lawrence Yang explaining to the Verge that “The cost of the product is basically the cost of the components and what it takes to make it.”

While that means the Steam Machine will remain considerably more expensive than a PS5 or Xbox Series X, Valve believes the tradeoff is worth it if it helps preserve the open nature of PC gaming rather than creating a closed ecosystem built around subsidized hardware and future subscriptions or exclusives.