The Steam Deck is back, and affordable PC gaming is dead
The Steam Deck has returned to the market with significantly increased prices, now costing nearly $800 for the base model. Valve attributes these price hikes to rising memory and storage costs driven by demand from the AI industry. This trend reflects broader affordability challenges in the PC gaming hardware market.
- ▪The Steam Deck's 512GB OLED model is priced at $789, while the 1TB version costs $949.
- ▪Valve has discontinued the original LCD model, which was priced at $400.
- ▪The increase in prices is attributed to rising costs of memory and storage due to demand from the AI sector.
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News The Steam Deck is back, and affordable PC gaming is dead It costs almost $800 now. Don't act surprised. By Michael Crider Staff Writer, PCWorld May 27, 2026 11:22 am PDT Image: Valve/Edvard Munch Summary created by Smart Answers AIIn summary:PCWorld reports the Steam Deck has returned to market with nearly doubled pricing, featuring only OLED models at $789 for 512GB and $949 for 1TB versions.Valve discontinued cheaper LCD models and attributes price increases to rising memory and storage costs driven by AI industry demand affecting consumer hardware.This trend extends beyond Steam Deck to other gaming handhelds like Lenovo Legion Go, signaling broader affordability challenges in PC gaming hardware.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at PCWorld.
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