A Steam Machine price leak reveals surprising costs for Valve’s upcoming hybrid console, raising concerns as gaming hardware prices continue to rise worldwide.
steam machine price leak
When Valve officially revealed the Steam Machine and Steam Frame back in November 2025, the company kept one crucial detail under wraps: the price. At the time, fans were left guessing how much Valve’s next big gaming hardware push would actually cost. Now, thanks to a sharp-eyed gamer, a Czech retailer, and a peek into some website code, we may finally have a rough idea—and it’s not exactly comforting news.
Gaming hardware has steadily become more expensive over the past year, from consoles to PC parts. If this newly discovered pricing information turns out to be accurate, the Steam Machine won’t be breaking that trend anytime soon.
The potential price leak comes from Alza, a website, a Czech electronics and gaming retailer that’s believed to be an authorized Valve reseller in Europe. The Steam Machine is already visible on Smarty’s website homepage, but curiously, no price is shown publicly. That didn’t stop internet detectives from digging deeper.
A user known as ClawSomeGamer examined the site’s source code and reportedly uncovered backend pricing for two Steam Machine variants: a 512GB model and a larger 2TB version. According to the hidden data, the 512GB model is listed at 19,826 Czech koruna, while the 2TB version sits at 22,306 CZK. Based on current exchange rates, that roughly translates to about $950 and $1,070 USD, respectively.
Before panic fully sets in, there are some important caveats. ClawSomeGamer pointed out that Smarty typically adds a margin of around 17% to its products. If that’s applied here, the estimated base price could drop to roughly $814 for the 512GB model and around $916 for the 2TB version. There’s also the chance that these figures are simply internal estimates or placeholders rather than final retail prices.
Still, even with those adjustments, the Steam Machine appears far from cheap.
For comparison, even after recent price hikes, the most expensive versions of the PlayStation 5 Pro and Xbox Series X remain under $800. The standard PS5 with a 1TB drive sells for around $499, while the Xbox Series X typically costs about $649. Against that backdrop, Valve’s rumored pricing places the Steam Machine in an entirely different bracket.
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That said, history suggests Valve’s own pricing could be more competitive than what third-party retailers show. Take the Steam Deck OLED as an example. Valve sells it directly for $649, yet the same device often appears on Amazon for nearly $200 more when sold by third-party vendors. If Valve applies a similar approach with the Steam Machine, buyers purchasing directly from Valve could see noticeably lower prices.
Even so, few expect the Steam Machine to be cheap.
Beyond retail markups, the broader tech industry is dealing with a major problem: a global RAM shortage. Driven largely by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and its massive memory demands, the RAM crisis has pushed up costs across the board. Smartphones, laptops, MacBooks, gaming consoles, and PC components have all felt the impact.
At CES 2026, Samsung executives openly acknowledged that semiconductor supply issues would continue driving prices higher. According to industry estimates, the memory situation likely won’t stabilize until late 2027. That means any new gaming hardware launching before then—including Valve’s hybrid console—is unlikely to see price relief.
Despite the uncertainty, SteamOS has never been more popular. Since the arrival of the Steam Deck, many PC gamers have embraced Valve’s Linux-based operating system as a smoother alternative to Windows, especially amid ongoing performance complaints. PC gaming on SteamOS is booming, and the Steam Machine appears designed to capitalize on that momentum.
Another Reddit user recently shared the same Smarty listing and confirmed similar pricing data hidden in the code. The Steam Machine is listed in both 512GB and 2TB configurations, with the same starting price of 19,826 CZK before taxes. Again, that comes out to around $949, with the higher-capacity model reaching roughly $1,070.
There are two major reasons why these numbers may not reflect the final price. First, backend prices are often placeholders used during product setup. Second, the Steam Machine will almost certainly be cheaper in the U.S. market due to lower import duties compared to Europe.
To put that into perspective, the Steam Deck OLED starts at $549 in the U.S., but Smarty sells the same 512GB model for about $690—a difference of roughly 22%. Applying a similar reduction could place the U.S. Steam Machine price closer to $750, at least based on current leaks. Still, these figures remain speculative until Valve makes things official.
Valve itself has stayed quiet on pricing, but a few hints have slipped out. A Valve executive recently told The Verge that the Steam Machine is meant to sit near the “entry level” of the PC market while