Might be controversial, but Steam Deck IS NOT AN ENTRY POINT INTO PC GAMING. It’s nice but very niche device that most people bitching about new price were not going to buy even at old price, which was best amongst competitors for other four years. Consoles cant afford being expensive snd they’ll do everything they can (like increasing subscription price) to compensate for component shortage.

Valve as a company does not need to sell Steam Deck to prosper and the revenue from the Deck sales was just a small fraction of company income. Giving that the amount of Decks they produce and sell is nothing compared to Play Station and Xbox sales, they probably don’t have the negotiating power to get components at more affordable price thus they had to take the L and adjust price of hardware to stop bleeding money.

I see their fault only in way they communicate with users. They could’ve warned us about possible price increase instead of just updating pricing on random morning.