In a blog post, Valve detailed its Verified programs for Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and insists both pieces of hardware are still coming this summer.
In a blog post, Valve detailed its Verified programs for Steam Machine and Steam Frame, and insists both pieces of hardware are still coming this summer.
Has it really been “wildly swinging”? Been pretty solidly one direction, no?
No, because some of the supply constraints we thought were locked in contracts were actually just handshake agreements that fell through, so that frees up supply and sends prices back down a bit. There’s also the part where this came for RAM first, but then SSDs were hit on a lag because a lot of the same tech is used, and then HDDs were hit on a lag because SSDs were scarce. HDDs don’t really factor into these devices, but there are ripple effects that can make predicting long-term costs difficult.
Where have you seen prices coming down at all? I have only seen up up up.
RAM prices came down a bit in mid-April, as I said, when one of those deals fell through because it wasn’t actually set in stone, and one of those major AI companies was less cash rich than everyone thought. That doesn’t mean it’s back to where we started, but they came down from their peak, at least for a time, and have somewhat stabilized since then. We’re also seeing data centers meet opposition, not just legally but logistically, and folks are trying to read the tea leaves there for prices, too.
Must be regional because I’ve been looking and have not seen a dip 😭
It can also wildly swing in one direction. The price can go up by a small amount or an insane amount. Creates this funny situation where you either price too high and lose customers or price too low and lose money on every sale, doesn’t matter what you do you’re not going to win. The only thing to do is postpone as long as possible in hopes of prices stabilizing and then release it at the current market price and pray the costs don’t keep rising.
In short, everything is fucked and it’s the worst time probably ever to release new hardware.
Sure, even if it has never turned downwards - then constantly rising prices still makes the point.