Valve, the company renowned for its digital storefront Steam and the surprise hit Steam Deck, is once again in the hardware spotlight—but this time, the buzz isn’t all positive. The much-anticipated Steam Machine, announced officially in November 2025, has found itself at the center of a storm after a pricing leak from a Czech retailer sent shockwaves through the gaming community. For gamers who had hoped the new device would offer console-level affordability, the leaked numbers have proved to be a bitter pill to swallow.
On January 9, 2026, a Reddit user unearthed a listing on the Czech electronics site Smarty.cz, which appeared to reveal the Steam Machine’s price tags: 19,826 Czech koruna (about $950 USD) for the 512GB model and 22,305 CZK (roughly $1,070 USD) for the 2TB version. According to Wccftech and other tech outlets, these figures were discovered not on the public-facing product page, but buried in the site’s source code—a detail that has only added to the intrigue and speculation.
To put it plainly, these prices are much steeper than what many gamers had anticipated. As reported by LADbible, the leaked costs are “considerably more expensive than either the PlayStation 5 Pro or Xbox Series X.” That’s no small difference: the PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X both hover between $650 and $750, making Valve’s new device look more like a luxury item than a living room staple. For many, the sticker shock was immediate and visceral. Comments on Reddit ranged from resignation to disbelief. “Yeah at that price I’m good lol,” wrote one would-be buyer, while another lamented, “Well I guess I’m not getting a Steam Machine after all.”
But is this the final word on price? Not necessarily. Multiple sources, including SlashGear and Insider Gaming, have pointed out that these prices could be placeholders—estimates set by the retailer before Valve makes an official announcement. There’s also the matter of regional pricing quirks: tariffs, import taxes, and local fees can inflate European prices well above what U.S. consumers might expect. For example, the Steam Deck OLED sells for $549 in the U.S., but the same model costs the equivalent of $690 in the Czech Republic—a 22% markup. If a similar adjustment is applied, the Steam Machine’s U.S. price could land closer to $750–$850, though this remains speculative.
Valve itself has yet to comment publicly on the leaked prices. However, the company has offered a few hints about its pricing philosophy. Speaking to The Verge, a Valve executive stated, “We intend for it to be positioned closer to the entry level of the PC space, but to be very competitive with a PC you could build yourself from parts.” That sounds reassuring, but as SlashGear notes, “what performance baseline Valve has set for an ‘entry-level’ PC is totally opaque.” In today’s market, building a PC that can handle modern AAA games at 1080p with respectable frame rates costs around $1,000—meaning Valve’s ambitions may be constrained by the same economic realities facing every hardware maker.
And what are those realities? Chief among them is the global memory shortage, a problem that has only worsened since the Steam Machine’s debut was first teased. As LADbible and Wccftech report, the spike in RAM prices is largely due to surging demand from AI data centers, which are gobbling up available supply. This bottleneck has affected not just Valve, but also console giants like Sony and Microsoft, leading to delays and higher prices for next-generation PlayStation and Xbox hardware. According to Insider Gaming, “without an ample supply of DDR5 RAM, Valve could not announce attractive pricing.”
Valve’s approach to hardware pricing is also distinct from its competitors. While companies like Sony and Microsoft are known to subsidize their console prices—selling hardware at a loss in hopes of recouping costs through game sales and subscriptions—Valve has signaled it won’t follow suit this time. As Wccftech puts it, “Valve is not expected to subsidize the Steam Machine price like Sony and Microsoft do with their consoles.” In fact, Valve CEO Gabe Newell once described the original Steam Deck’s $399 price as “painful,” and executives have said the Steam Machine won’t get the same treatment.
So, what exactly are buyers getting for their money? The Steam Machine is expected to be a powerhouse, boasting a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU (6 cores, 12 threads, up to 4.8 GHz), a semi-custom AMD RDNA3 GPU (28 compute units, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM), 16GB DDR5 RAM, and a choice of 512GB or 2TB NVMe SSD storage. It also features a high-speed microSD slot, multiple USB ports, and runs on SteamOS 3. Valve claims the device will be “six times more powerful than the Steam Deck,” and, according to Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais, it will be “more powerful than 70% of gaming PCs that Valve registers.” That’s a bold claim, but one that could justify a higher price for some buyers.
Still, the community reaction has been mixed at best. Many gamers see the Steam Machine as a luxury rather than a necessity, especially when compared to the value proposition of mainstream consoles. As one Reddit commenter put it, “If it were significantly lower, this could be my couch ARPG and Roguelite machine.” Others have suggested that if Valve offered a barebones version—allowing users to install their own RAM and storage—it might help bring prices down, an idea floated by insiders like Moore’s Law Is Dead and echoed by Insider Gaming.
There’s also the question of timing. With memory prices still high and supply chains strained, some analysts doubt Valve will hit its rumored Q1 2026 release window. As Insider Gaming notes, “sources have expressed doubt about a Q1 2026 Steam Machine release date,” citing ongoing component shortages. Others suggest Valve might be wise to wait until the market stabilizes, or at least until it can secure enough inventory to meet demand at a reasonable price.
For now, the Steam Machine’s future remains uncertain. The leaked prices have certainly set expectations—and perhaps dashed a few hopes—but until Valve makes an official announcement, all eyes will remain on the company for the final word. One thing’s for sure: in an era of soaring component costs and shifting consumer expectations, even the mightiest names in gaming can’t escape the laws of economics.
As the gaming world waits for Valve’s next move, the Steam Machine’s price leak serves as a stark reminder: in 2026, cutting-edge hardware doesn’t come cheap, and even the most enthusiastic fans have their limits.
