Can everyone please stop claiming and speculating that Valve’s new hardware will be loss leaders? If you watch LTT and Gamers Nexus’s first videos on the announcement, they actually spoke with Valve’s engineers. And the Valve representatives already said that the new hardware WILL NOT BE LOSS LEADERS.
There isn’t even evidence that the Steam Deck was a loss leader. All GabeN said was that the lowest cost launch model was priced “painfully”, which doesn’t necessarily mean it was sold at a loss, it could easily have been sold at a very tight margin.
And no, low margins does not meet the definition of a loss leader. A loss leader is a product sold below cost, in that every unit sold actually costs the seller money.
I get the desire to speculate on new hardware. It’s fun and it helps pass the time until we hear more info from Valve. But there’s limits to what is reasonable. Valve has already stated that the new hardware won’t be loss leaders, so hoping and/or claiming they are isn’t reasonable.
Sorry for the rant, but all of the comments that seem to have only skimmed headlines are quickly getting to me
I would be happy to wait and see but idiots online keep trying to insist it’ll be $2,000 even though the hardware isn’t close to worth that much. Some of these people are big influencers and really should know better.
So what exactly does that change? Valve already decided the price and that is what you will have to pay. Who cares what anyone ever predicted?
I want it to be a successful product, that I can buy, and will be supported for a useful number of years. $800-1200 feels OK for that. $2000 feels like Apple Vision territory.
Jesus, man: haven’t you ever been excited about a thing before it’s on shelves? Speculated about a sports game before it’s over? Talking about your anticipation is part of the fun.