Regardless of a commerce battle and rising inflation, the three-year-old Steam Deck hasn’t gone up in value but. The truth is, it simply obtained a reasonably main low cost. The $400 LCD mannequin will probably be 20 p.c off for the 2025 fall Steam sale. That makes it considerably cheaper than simply about each different current-gen gaming machine available on the market proper now, together with the 8-year-old Nintendo Swap. It additionally places some wanted stress on new PC gaming handhelds launching this vacation.
The Steam Deck 256GB LCD mannequin will probably be $320 beginning September 22. That’s primarily what the refurbished mannequin, at present out of inventory, often prices. The 512GB OLED mannequin remains to be $550 and the 1TB OLED remains to be $650 (they arrive with barely greater screens, the next refresh charge, and higher battery life). This week-long low cost leads into the Steam Autumn Sale which is able to kick off subsequent week on September 29 and run till October 6.
It’s not a nasty deal in any respect for probably the most versatile gaming handhelds round. It’d simply be Valve clearing out outdated stock because it phases out the older LCD fashions solely, but it surely comes as each different platform squeezes gamers an increasing number of on the checkout line. The Xbox Collection X/S simply obtained its second value hike this 12 months, the PS5 all-digital is now $100 greater than it was at launch, and even the unique Swap lately went from $300 to $330. At this charge, it’s onerous to not really feel just like the $450 Swap 2 won’t be far behind.
Then there’s the Steam Deck’s competitors within the PC gaming handheld race. We nonetheless don’t understand how a lot the brand new Xbox Ally Rog will probably be, although it’s lower than a month away from launch. And the Legion Go 2, which prices as much as $1350 on the excessive finish ($1,479 for the 2TB mannequin), is each extremely costly and extremely hard-to-get. Lenovo took so many pre-orders it’s already canceling some. That each one could be nice for “fanatic players” but it surely’s not more likely to really assist develop the general marketplace for PC gaming or handhelds. There’s solely an estimated 5 to 7 million Steam Decks on the market on the earth proper now, and it’s by far the best-selling moveable not made by Nintendo.
