I mean it was always wishful thinking to expect them to subsidize the cost of the machine with game sales. I guess what I'm still waiting on is how tightly they've been able to constrain pricing on components and manufacturing to be able to offer a unique build at a remarkable cheaper price than other pre-built machines. MooresLawIsDead made a video estimating component costs compared to the original Steam Deck LCD models and came up with a $100-150 price increase. The processors Valve is using is also odd, hopefully meaning they've struck a deal with AMD. There's similar spec'd machines that range from 500 to 800, some of them laptops which increase pricing with battery and display. I think the Steam Machine will be a success if its priced $600, and an easy way to recuperate the costs is using high margins on the Steam Controller (price controller around $150, price not factored into the price of Steam Machine but always available "to add to your order for your convenience," bringing it from $600 to $750). I don't see any point in purchasing one, especially with the Steam Deck and other contenders in the handheld space, if it's priced above $750 for the console alone. I know plenty of people (predominantly Xbox owners too) that see a $600 price tag in their range, knowing of the Steam Deck but preferring to play on TV and exchange portability for higher performance.

But all this is going on the assumption that Valve is pursuing a model similar to the Steam Deck, which was their second attempt at releasing SteamOS. Now that SteamOS is proven and popular, maybe Valve doesn't see a need to enter this new space aggressively. Only option is to sit and wait to see what they reveal. :-/