Valve hiked Steam Deck price by 40% and gamers still sold it out in a day
Gamers clearly have too much money. Valve slapped a massive 40% premium on the Steam Deck OLED, and the entire stock evaporated in less than a day. Absolutely zero financial self-control here.
The gaming giant recently jacked up the prices of its beloved handheld console. The 512 GB OLED model surged from $550 straight to $790, while the 1 TB beast jumped from $650 to a painful $950. Even refurbished versions couldn't escape the greed-flation, with prices climbing up to $760.
The excuse? The ongoing global shortage of LPDDR5 memory and SSDs. Valve warned everyone that components are scarcer than honest politicians, but nobody expected them to pass the bill so aggressively to the consumers.
Despite this massive financial gut punch, the entire stock vanished in under 24 hours. The company apparently spent two weeks hoarding units just to watch them disappear faster than free pizza at a tech conference.
This pricing madness isn't happening in a vacuum. Sony has been quietly raising PlayStation 5 prices, and Nintendo is prepping everyone for more expensive Switch consoles and accessories.
Modern gaming has officially entered the era where pricing is made up and consumer wallets don't matter. It turns out that screaming about corporate greed on forums means absolutely nothing when those same hands immediately reach for the credit card the second a buy button turns green.
Source: IGN
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