In a blog post, Valve detailed its Verified programs for Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and insists both pieces of hardware are still coming this summer.
Still suspicious that they won’t even settle for a price range. Summer is almost here, so they have to have them made already. At this point I’m certain it’s going to be 4 digits and not even barely
It’s only suspicious if you haven’t been watching the wildly swinging RAM pricing. It would be a far worse experience for Steam and for the consumer if they set a price and had to keep jacking it up before the product had even been released.
They might have to increase it later, but the batches they already have are of a known price. This just looks like they want to see how much ram prices soar so they can see how much they can ask for the thing
Of all companies, I think Valve deserves the benefit of the doubt. You’re ascribing business practices to Valve that I have no memory of them using.
They literally just upped the price of their steam decks by a few hundred dollars, with no hardware upgrades, to compensate for the increased price of said hardware. They’re a business, they’ll charge what nets them the most money. What other reason would they have to not announce the price than not yet deciding what would be most profitable for them? They need to strike a balance between charging enough to cover the cost of components and not so much that they start to lose potential sales, so it’s exactly like the other guy said, they’re waiting to see what the prices of components will do before announcing prices for their products that are optimal for money-making.