Gaming Valve jacks up Steam Deck prices by as much as $300

Valve has increased the prices of the Steam Deck "due to rising memory and storage costs." The numbers are not pretty at all. The 512GB OLED model has jumped up from $549 to $789. That's an increase of $240, as Wario64 noted.

If you've been interested in getting a 1TB OLED, I hope you bought one recently because that model will now run you a whopping $949. That version of the device previously cost $649, so that's an increase of 300 American dollars (almost 50 percent).

"Steam Deck itself hasn't changed; these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole," Valve said in an announcement. "We'll keep you updated if anything changes."

Those are shocking price increases. You can largely pin the blame on AI companies driving up the prices of components as they scramble to build data centers as quickly as possible. Sony and Nintendo also announced price increases for the PS5 and Switch 2 recently. Lenovo has been bumping up the prices of its handheld devices too.

They are trying to build some datacenters in Idaho. I know I'm comparatively an ecoterrorist to most of my state, but no one is on board except the bought out politicians that got elected.

I think this will be a political transition, I've never really understood the people here ever since I was a kid, like the ideals everyone talked about never matched with their actual votes, I think this might be a drastic issue though. We like it here because it's open and beautiful and people generally leave other people alone. We all agree on that, but there is a certain demographic that is very loud recently about well established things, like gay people can get married. I doubt most people care. But it is ONLY those kinds of people suddenly interested in AI being brought here, and as a result I think a lot of people are rejecting their viewpoints outright. Which is not great, having bad opinions does not change that you may have valid ones, but in this case, these people have awful opinions and I think Idaho will see a shift. Not to blue, but I don't think Idaho is as hardcore right as the current administration would like to believe. We might become a swing state, that would be exciting!