Crazy Steam Bros 2

The Steam Machine is Valve's new piece of hardware entering the scene as a mini PC built for living room gaming. I love a lot about it, had some issues with it, but overall came away from my time with it feeling very positive. The big question mark has been around the Steam Machine price. After the Steam Deck had a jump in price, we knew that would be a major factor in who to recommend this to for PC gaming. The Steam Machine specs in coordination with how well it works with the Steam Controller being still make this an appealing PC rig to consider.

A wonderful design can't beat the ugly realities of pricing, performance, and consumer value.

For years, the Steam Deck was essentially a budget all-star among handheld gaming PCs, even when more powerful handhelds like the Xbox Ally X started coming out. But, in the months following Valve's price increase for its handheld, it seems like demand for the Steam Deck has absolutely cratered. Right now, it looks like the Steam Deck is selling up to 82% fewer units than it did last year, according to some napkin math done by Boiling Steam (via Gizmodo). The blog is based on the Steam Deck slipping from a near-constant 5th-place on the Steam top sellers chart down to around #14, which is