Valve’s Steam Machine is one of the most-expensive pieces of hardware we’ve seen in years, but it’s already about to be beaten.
When its $1049 price-tag was unveiled the world was shocked. The Steam Machine was believed to be an affordable device for those looking to dip their toe into PC gaming, without the need for an overly expensive rig. At its current price however you’d be better off just buying yourself a decent PC.
And yet Valve is reportedly about to defeat its own record, as YouTuber Tyler McVicker reports the Steam Frame will cost even more.
The Steam Frame is Valve’s upcoming wireless VR kit that can be either connected to a PC or used as a standalone device. It’ll be compatible with the Steam Machine and may even be sold as part of a bundle in the future.
Speculation on its price was somewhere around $1,000, with Tyler McVicker initially believing it’d cost around $1,100.
However in a since-deleted YouTube video McVicker now believes it could cost around $1,500 for the bog-standard version.
That’s a hefty amount of money for a VR set, even if it’s a standalone device and doesn’t needa PC. For comparison, a Meta Quest 3 costs $599.99, and while it won’t be as powerful as Valve’s kit it’ll still do the job.
Steam supporters are struggling to back this rumoured price
McVicker’s thoughts were shared to the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit by Messmer-Impaler-148 and fans were quick to voice their concern about the rumoured price.
“I love Valve but this is maybe the worst time ever to release new hardware” said tastyjerk.
“It’s a damn shame this thing won’t have any legs” added Tomoki. “The Frame is the one product they announced that I’m the most interested in. Valve really got screwed here.”
Doom-1993 then said “DOA. VR is already a tiny niche, no way this’ll be successful enough for Valve to give this any kind of support.”
It’s true, VR is nowhere near as popular as regular console and PC gaming. It has its fans and the technology is improving every year, but it’ll likely be years before it’s even remotely mainstream. That said, at these prices it’s even more unlikely to get there.
Of course we need to take this with a pinch of salt as at the time of writing Valve is yet to officially confirm the price of the Steam Frame.
You can understand why gamers are already fearing the worst though. The Steam Machine’s premium price was a surprise to just about everyone and while there are many people who are still keen to get one the Steam Frame will inevitably be a harder sell, even if it does end up slightly cheaper.
Fingers-crossed Valve is ready to share more in the next couple of months; hopefully when Steam Machine pre-orders begin to ship.
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