It’s been a point of discussion a lot lately, but the Steam Machine’s price tag continues to draw a lot of opinions and a fair bit of speculation about what Valve was thinking. There are even rumors that the manufacturer is turning quite a profit from the current situation.
But Valve engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat seem to disagree, expressing regret over the studio being forced to price its latest offering as high as it is, with the bargaining power to do so being out of its hands, while the Steam Machine’s very purpose has also been a contributing factor. Speaking to Digital Foundry, the duo have now revealed that there is definitely an intent to bring the company’s console-PC hybrid to a lower price point, but that’s dependent on the lowering of hardware and storage prices, which might take a while.
Griffais pointed out that the high price is, in fact, counterproductive to the Steam Machine’s intended goal, arguing that a cheaper price point would work in its favor. Aldehayyat has also expressed similar sentiments, though that comes with a warning that things aren’t likely to improve in the near future.
“Obviously, we would love to be able to make the Steam Machine more affordable and reach more people, but I don’t want to promise to people that it’s coming soon. I wouldn’t say that this is something that’s going to resolve very soon. It’s obviously hard for us to predict the future, but we’re not optimistic it’s going to happen any time soon.”
Well, all we can do is try and hold out hope that the Steam Machine manages to weather this storm and become what it was meant to be at some point. In the meantime, reservations ended on June 25th, with Valve shipping the first batch out on June 29th.
