Valve interview confirms Steam Machine price will mirror a gaming PC, but has console advantages

After statements from a Valve designer and programmer, gamers can better predict the Steam Machine price. Without naming an MSRP, Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais provided more insight during a Skill Up interview. They revealed that the company will not match console pricing. Instead, the system will cost the same as a gaming PC with comparable performance.

Griffais explained that the price of the Steam Machine will be roughly equivalent to a custom or prebuilt desktop with similar parts. He also addressed whether Valve would subsidize the Steam Machine, as Microsoft and Sony have with the Xbox Series X and PS5: “No, it's more in line with what you might expect from the current PC market.”

Unfortunately, it now seems almost certain that the Steam Machine price won’t be in the $400-500 range. Valve is unwilling to take losses on each sale to establish it as a console competitor.

The cost of building a Steam Machine from scratch

Since the Steam Machine specs include a semi-custom CPU and GPU, it’s tricky to build a gaming PC with the same components. Nevertheless, estimates for achieving the same performance range vary from $700 to $900. Some Xbox Series X models and the PS5 Pro are in that ballpark, but it will likely cost more than the base PS5. The variation of Valve’s cube with 2 TB of storage would demand an even larger investment.

Despite a potentially steep asking price, Yang and Graffais stressed the advantages that the system would have. They argue that building the small-form-factor PC was not an easy feat. Competing builds may struggle to replicate its low-noise cooling. The Steam Machine also offers console-like conveniences, such as HDMI-CEC and the ability to turn on the system with a controller.

Expected in Q1 2026, Valve is not in a rush to announce prices for its latest hardware. As discussed in the interview, “external factors” in the industry may be one reason for the uncertainty. Recently, a historic RAM shortage has made it challenging to assemble affordable PCs. Hopefully, Valve has prepared and can avoid even higher-than-anticipated costs.