If you ask random players what rate they believe Valve will charge for its freshly revealed Steam Machine hardware, you’ll get a large range of guesses. If you ask the experts who follow the video game market for a living the very same concern … well, you’ll in fact get the exact same broad variety of (rather better-informed) guesses.

At the luxury of those guesses are experts like F-Squared’s Michael Futter, who anticipates a beginning cost of $799 to $899 for the entry-level 512GB Steam Machine and a tremendous $1,000 to $1,100 for the 2TB variation. With internal specifications that Futter states “will equal a PS5 and perhaps even strike PS5 Pro efficiency,” we can anticipate a “substantial cost” from Valve’s brand-new console-like effort. At the very same time, considering that Valve is “placing this as a devoted, effective video gaming PC … I think that the cost will be listed below a likewise capable conventional desktop,” Futter stated.

DFC Intelligence expert David Cole likewise anticipates the Steam Machine to begin at a rate “around $800” and increase to “around $1,000” for the 2TB design. Cole stated he anticipates Valve will look for “really low margins” and even break-even rates on the hardware itself, which he stated would most likely cause rates “listed below a video gaming PC however somewhat above a high-end console.”

A loss leader?

At the other end of the spectrum, Superdata Research creator and SuperJoost newsletter author Joost Van Dreunen forecasted the entry-level Steam Machine might be available in as low as $549, increasing to $749 for the 2TB variation (plus an extra $50 for packages consisting of a Steam Controller).

To Van Dreunen, Valve’s distinct position as a personal business with a devoted fan base suggests it can “price its hardware to strike its own tactical sweet area instead of mirror the competitors.” And in this case, he stated, that might imply taking a “modest” loss on the hardware as a method to get more players purchased SteamOS.