In a somewhat surprising twist, Steam Deck is raising prices in Asian countries like Japan, Taiwan, and Korea effective March 6, but it has nothing to do with RAM shortages or component price hikes, as has been the case with many other similar price hikes for consoles, handhelds, and storage devices.
As first reported by Famitsu, the Steam Deck OLED, according to Comodo, is “receiving a price increase as a result of careful consideration, given the rising logistics costs that have continued since the console's launch, as well as the current volatility in the exchange rate environment.”
Prices in Japan, which will see a 15,000 yen increase, will now be as follows:
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99,800 yen for the 512GB model (previous price: 84,800 yen)
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114,800 yen for the 1TB model (previous price: 99,800 yen)
In Taiwan:
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New Taiwan Dollar TWD 18,980 for the 512GB model (old price TWD 18,880)
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TWD 22,480 TWD for 1TB model (old price TWD 21,989)
In Korea:
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898,000 won for the South Korean 512GB model (previous price of KRW 839,000)
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KRW 1,048,000 for the 1TB model (previous price of KRW 989,000)
Prices in Hong Kong, according to the release, will remain the same.
Steam Deck is the first of many RAM shortage tragedies in video games
Valve's handheld is currently out of stock due to RAM and memory shortages.
Those increases come as Steam Deck is completely out of stock in the United States, with its now-discontinued LCD model, as well as its OLED models no longer available for purchase, at least for the time being.
It's the Wild Wild West for pricing
“Note: Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold, will no longer be available,” read a disclaimer on Valve's own website.
It remains to be seen whether the price increases in the future due to lack of RAM will ultimately have an impact. It also remains to be seen whether Steam will increase the price of its own consoles in the US when they return to stock.
Either way, consumers find themselves completely unsettled by the AI boom in which every piece of electronics imaginable is shortened, forcing price hikes across the board. Recently, AYN Thor, the viral dual-screen OLED emulator, announced its intention for a second price hike.
If that wasn't enough cause for concern, one of the largest video game preservation projects has announced its intention to shut down due to rising costs and the inability to consolidate its HDDs and other needs.
With Sony thinking about a longer lifecycle for its PlayStation 5 consoles, and Nintendo potentially having to account for price increases on its one-year-old Switch 2, the companies are in a tough spot, all for essentially the same reasons.
If you can swing it, then there's no better time to buy things than now.
- brand
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steam (valve)
- Original release date
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February 25, 2022
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$399–$649
- operating system
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SteamOS 3 (Arch-based)
- processor
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Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
- resolve
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1200 x 800
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