Steam Deck sales see massive drop following price hikes

While Valve doesn't share specific sales numbers for any of its products, it would seem that the recent Steam Deck price hikes have had a meaningful impact on sales. According to a new report, sales may have dropped by as much as 80%. 

Valve raised the price for its Steam Deck OLED models a couple of months ago due to massively inflated costs for components like RAM and SSDs. As a result, the 512GB and 1TB models both rose in price by more than 40%, with a 1TB Steam Deck OLED now costing over $900.

As spotted by TechPowerUp, estimates from Boiling Steam show that the Steam Deck may have dropped from selling up to 18,000 units per week to up to 3000 units per week in July. Revenue generated by Steam Deck sales may have dropped by as much as 80%, as the system has continued to drop in the Steam Sale charts, after being a consistent top ten seller since launch.

Unfortunately, the likelihood of Steam Deck prices coming back down to normal levels is low. Valve has warned that memory prices are still getting worse and the prices consumers are seeing are lagging behind what OEMs like Valve are seeing by up to six months. If RAM and SSD prices continue to rise like Valve expects, then there is a chance that the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine end up becoming even more expensive over time rather than getting cheaper. This is something we have seen impacting the console market as well, with PS5 and Xbox Series X/S systems now costing hundreds of dollars more compared to their launch day prices six years ago.

KitGuru Says: The consumer tech market is in a very rough spot right now. Have your upgrade plans been put on hold due to current prices? 

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