Valve hikes the Steam Deck OLED's prices due to “rising memory and storage costs”: from $549 to $789 for the 512GB model and from $649 to $949 for the 1TB model

The 1TB OLED model got a $300 price increase, and now costs $949. … Valve has significantly increased the price …

The Verge 2026-05-28 Jay Peters

Context & Ripple Effects

Valve’s handheld entered the market with a $399 starting price, while the OLED revision was reviewed at $549 for its 512GB configuration. More recently, Valve had warned that memory and storage shortages could make OLED availability intermittent.

The new pricing follows that supply warning and sharply changes the value position of the OLED line. It also arrives as Valve is preparing to sell a higher-priced Steam Machine living-room PC, making hardware affordability more consequential across its device lineup.

First-order effects

Steam Deck OLED buyers now face $789 for 512GB and $949 for 1TB, shifting the added component costs directly into retail pricing.
Valve may preserve hardware availability and margins by repricing rather than keeping the OLED models constrained or intermittently out of stock.

Second-order effects

The higher Deck price narrows the gap between Valve’s handheld and more expensive PC hardware, likely making prospective buyers weigh storage capacity and form factor more carefully.
Handheld rivals and retailers gain a clearer price benchmark: devices that can secure memory and storage at lower cost can compete more strongly on value, while similarly exposed vendors face pressure to reprice or absorb costs.

Third-order effects

If memory and storage constraints persist, portable gaming hardware may become less able to rely on aggressive entry pricing, with component availability becoming a more important differentiator than incremental specification upgrades.
Valve’s move suggests the low-cost, PC-like handheld model is vulnerable to commodity-component cycles; the durability of that model will depend on whether suppliers’ costs normalize rather than on a single vendor’s pricing decision.

The trend: Gaming handhelds are moving from a growth phase built around subsidized, console-like pricing toward a market more exposed to PC-component supply costs and hardware price volatility.

Discussion

@gosuprime022 @gosuprime022 on x
@Wario64 whether people like Nintendo or not, the Switch 2 (msrp) is probably the best value handheld right now, you can emulate stuff on the deck which is nice BUT the hardware is getting pretty expensive Can get a switch 2 + online and you have hundreds of nes/snes/etc games to…
@paultassi Paul Tassi on x
luckily, all of us have gotten 45% pay raises this year
@pirat_nation @pirat_nation on x
Valve just raised Steam Deck OLED prices in the US while the devices are still out of stock, and the increase is insane New prices: 512GB OLED: $549 → $789 1TB OLED: $649 → $949 A $949 Steam Deck now costs as much as some high-end gaming laptops and premium handheld PCs [image]
@kiwitalkz @kiwitalkz on x
People who act like the Steam Deck is somehow a threat to the Switch 2 are hilarious, this thing barely sold 5 million units globally and it will dive off a cliff after this price hike. Most countries you can't buy it(like here in NZ, you have to import it.), no marketing behind
@genepark Gene Park on x
the steam deck is a top 3 gaming device or console i've ever owned. it's also now no longer worth buying. i wanted to get another spare one but so much for that. unbelievably, the xbox rog ally x is now vastly better priced atm at $1,000, more powerful than steam deck.
@carygolomb Cary Golomb on x
It is such a crazy time that I'm actually saying out loud, actually don't even bother getting a Steam Deck OLED, just get the Xbox ALLY X
@govpressoffice @govpressoffice on x
DONALD TRUMP CONTINUES THE BIGGEST PRICE HIKE ON GAMERS EVER https://kotaku.com/...
@jezcorden Jez on x
I expect PlayStation and Xbox to increase prices again before this is all over. CHINESE MEMORY PLS SAVE US.
@culturecrave @culturecrave on x
Valve just raised Steam Deck prices in the US 🎮 • 1TB OLED $649 ➡️ $949 • 512GB OLED $549 ➡️ $789 “these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole” [image]
@skillful__ @skillful__ on x
@Wario64 Jesus christ now the Steam Deck is arguably one of the worst deals in the handheld market LOL yikes You can get an ally x at this point and it'll run games significantly better
@wario64 @wario64 on x
Steam Deck LCD Refurbished is $279/$319/$359 on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/ ... May want to buy this very soon with the OLED price increases ($789/$949) [image]
@thegoblinnn @thegoblinnn on x
@Wario64 Literally no reason to buy it at that price. I own a Steam Deck and a Lenovo Legion Go, and the legion runs circles around the deck for basically the same price.
@wario64 @wario64 on x
Steam Deck Refurbished units are in stock (LCD model price unaffected, OLED price increases) https://store.steampowered.com/ ... [image]
@nintendeal @nintendeal on x
In hindsight, Nintendo opting to release the Switch 2 with just 256 GB of UFS 3.1 was probably a smart move. Means they're able to keep the price of the console lower than other handhelds with higher storage capacity base models (Steam Deck OLED, etc). Passing the cost of
@sadlyitsbradley Brad Lynch on x
Setting the expectations for Steam Machine price..
@cade_onder Cade Onder on x
In December I bought a Steam Deck and then I got laid off in January, so I was like... damn maybe I shouldn't have spent that money. Now that I see this, I am glad I made the decision that I did lmao
@synthpotato @synthpotato on x
950$ for a Steam Deck 900$ for a PS5 Pro 650$ for an Xbox Series X 600$ for a PS5 500$ for a Switch 2 Gaming has become unaffordable, this literally can't be sustainable.
@jaypeters.net Jay Peters on bluesky
Valve has significantly increased the price of the Steam Deck. Not a great sign for the price of the Steam Machine! — www.theverge.com/games/938340...
r/GamingLaptops r on reddit
Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200
r/valve r on reddit
Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200
r/BetterOffline r on reddit
Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200
r/technology r on reddit
Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200 / The 1TB OLED model got a $300 price increase, and now costs $949.
Gameranx Ryan Parreno on x
Steam Deck OLED Back In Stock With Drastic Price Increases “Due To Rising Memory and Storage Costs”
@sadlyitsbradley Brad Lynch on x
Take this with a grain of salt, because it was just whispers in my ear But back when I was told a figure for what Valve's estimated price they'd have to set the starting price of Steam Machine, it was still higher than today's Steam Deck prices.. And that was 2 months ago..

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