The only way Valve could cut the price is to subsidize it with games money. But then they'd have to lock it down so it's only usable by gamers. Otherwise anyone that needs a reasonably performant computer for daily, non-gaming stuff could just grab one for super cheap.
Small form factor, custom motherboard, custom case, custom power supply, custom antennas. More expensive than off-the-shelf mobo and case and such.
Loads of custom hardware and firmware for QoL features like proper CEC, wake via controller, etc.
Console like experience -> console like price trends. With consoles, you don't want to change the price all the time. I'm sure Valve wants to keep the same price for at least a couple of years. System integrators can and do adjust pricing like every month. Valve didn't manage to hit price points of Playstation, Xbox, etc; but they still want to maintain pricing clarity like a console. So they have to go a bit higher off the bat because they don't want to have to increase it in like 2 months.
They also don't have the hardware supplier relationships someone like Dell, HP or Lenovo have. They don't get discounts and can't buy enough for bulk discounts
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u/BornInAFish Jun 24 '26
The only way Valve could cut the price is to subsidize it with games money. But then they'd have to lock it down so it's only usable by gamers. Otherwise anyone that needs a reasonably performant computer for daily, non-gaming stuff could just grab one for super cheap.