Topic: Steam Machine price? Cheap methinks!

Tom from Moore's Law Is Dead published a BoM analysis for Steam Machine with 512GB SSD — he used to do BoM analysis as part of his day job in his pre-streamer days apparently.

Using off-the-shelf parts for much of it — i.e. higher prices that Valve will pay, no economies of scale — he says $425. (His previous estimates for base Steam Deck model was $298.) [Both these prices include packaging etc.]

One 2025 challenge is the DDR5 RAM, because of the global shortage due to the AI data centre building boom which means the price has doubled in a year.

If he's right, and this is slightly high, it could be that Valve pay approximately $400–$425 for each boxed and ready for sale Steam Machine.

How's the industry? Current BoM estimates are:

• PlayStation 5 = $450–$470
• PlayStation 5 Pro = $460–$480
• Xbox Series X = $650
• Xbox Series S = $300–$350
• Nintendo Switch (OLED) = $280–$300
• Nintendo Switch 2 = $400
• Steam Deck (base model) = $290–$320
• Steam Machine = $425–$450
  Note: These figures are based on industry tear-downs, analyst estimates, and supply chain modelling available as of November 2025.

Using the same markups as Steam Deck, financial and market analysts expect Valve to retail Steam Machine between $450 and $600. Although the other challenge in 2025 is trade barriers.

The Steam Machine’s competitive build cost could make it one of the most accessible new-generation PC consoles next year — it's unlikely they're going to charge $1000 for this, even $600 would be a push for base model (maybe top end), $450 smells right to me.

This is a great breakdown and was really interesting to read thank you!
But that seems to imply that even $500 surely is optimistic, I have a feeling prices will start at $600 but I'm open to being pleasantly surprised!

Tom from MLiD has a great track record with leaks, but his hit rate is all over the place when it comes to price prediction and BoM analysis, despite whatever work it was he did in the automotive industry...

That being said, I think they're shooting for a console like price point here. My guess would be $499 for base and $649-$699 for the 2TB version, depending on what other goodies or extras they may throw in for the more expensive package.

Didn't we hear that it would be priced more like an entry level pc than a console. I don't know american pricing well but a series x is £450 in the UK. So I suspect minimum £550 but I'd like to be surprised.

That's a horrible price for a machine weaker than a PS5 5 and a half years after launch.

I don't see it costing less than $549, which is about how much an OLED Deck is. They could be more aggressive in pricing if they expected to sell similar units to Switch 2 or PS5, but that's not a reasonable expectation I think.

Imma go out on a limb and say they're not expecting to sell more than 100 million units.

@Hustler_One they're most likely planning to sell only a few million of them. It's all about providing options, and with off the shelf parts you can do that for a fairly small slice of the market without making a loss.

There's also a part of me that thinks this is merely a testing ground for their full on Steam OS desktop plan, where they try to drag pc gamers away from windows.

@JohnGaines which is why they won't price it aggressively, I believe.

@Hustler_One Seeing how they’ve handled pricing for the Steam Deck leads me to believe they’ll be closer to the aggressive end of the spectrum.

I also think Xbox floundering and more or less wanting to offload as much of their subscriber base to PC as possible presents Steam with a modest opportunity.

This thing will be a success by simply matching what Steam Deck did over its current lifespan. If they could maybe do a little bit better than the Deck with this and then release a Steam Deck 2 the following year that does a little better than the original Deck, then they’re looking at what’s basically a console esque foothold that’s comfortably into double digit millions, and are really off to the races at that point.

I’m just assuming that’s what they want tho… But I do think they’ll need to be a little aggressive with pricing to really build on the success of Steam Deck, and to a smaller extent, Steam OS.

In a sane market, I could see this around £360. Now DRAM is going crazy, I can't see it retailing for less than £450 at this point.

I’m expecting around £500. Hoping its cheaper but just can’t see it

@byronhinson Yeah, I think my $450 was a bit too aggressive, with a BoM of $425 (or lower) the could charge $500 and still make a good margin on each Steam Machine. So I think you're right.

The challenge I think is potentially cannibalising their potential partners markets, this would be a very cheap price for a PC. There's a risk people could buy them en-mass as a desktop PC.

I think they'll counter that by making the low-price only available via the Steam Store to customers; not for general purchase. At least at first.

Don't forget that the steam machine will include a controller.

@Brunuu I read somewhere that it does not include a controller, as you can use PlayStation or Xbox or any other controller with it … as well as the Steam Controller [2].

Has it been confirmed that they're bundling the controller with it? Because I think to keep the price down low, they might well sell it without one.

Even if it doesn't bundle a controller, it's still not going to cost less than the OLED Deck, I think. If it does bundle the controller, I think it will be 599 USD minimum.

I can’t see Valve selling this anywhere but from Steam. Maybe in some smaller markets they might go the official partner route, like they did with the Deck in Australia, but I believe that was after it had been out for a while.

Did anyone already calculate how much it would cost right now, to build your own mini PC "steam machine" like PC with roughly similar specs?

I really hoped the Steam Machine would be a tad better (with a stronger GPU with at least 12 GB VRAM). My wife is currently using my old 8700k/RTX 2080 gaming PC on our Bedroom LG C4 TV and I kinda hoped the Steam Machine would be a nice viable update for the bedroom TV setup. But I guess my hopes and prayers were not heard by Gabe.

yeah I think some people have really over looked how much it’ll likely sell. I hope it does well but really don’t think it’s going to be a multimillion seller unless it really is dirt cheap.

It'll be $500 USD minimum