{"id":2007639,"date":"2026-06-24T03:20:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:20:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007639"},"modified":"2026-06-24T03:20:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T00:20:58","slug":"valve-ram-companies-state-prices-monthly-if-we-say-no-then-they-never-talk-to-us-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007639","title":{"rendered":"Valve: RAM Companies State Prices Monthly, \u2018If We Say No, Then They Never Talk to Us Again\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a new interview, Valve has conceded it has no bargaining power when it comes to buying memory from the limited number of companies that produce it at scale and control the bulk of the market. The company explained that doing anything other than agreeing to the price offered would see Valve cut off entirely.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The explosive growth of the AI industry has come with gluttonous demand from AI businesses hoarding the same memory components that consumer electronics need. As demand outpaces supply, prices have shot up sharply. <\/p>\n

For its part, Valve explained that it has not secured contracts for memory components. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, there\u2019s no contract; there\u2019s nothing,\u201d Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais told Gamers Nexus.<\/u><\/a> \u201cLike, those guys\u2026 they give us a price every month, or something, and they say, \u2018You can buy that many, and it\u2019s yes or no.\u2019 And if we say no, then they never talk to us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Valve hasn\u2019t been forthcoming with a precise figure, it\u2019s estimated that the Steam Machine was probably originally going to cost somewhere around USD $750<\/u><\/a> before rocketing RAM costs ruled that out and led to the final USD $1049 price tag.<\/p>\n

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Valve\u2019s new Steam Machine is far from the only consumer device feeling the pinch of RAM prices. Both Sony<\/u><\/a> and Xbox<\/u><\/a> continue to express concern over the significant challenges of launching new consoles amid such unprecedented demand for memory and storage chips, and Apple recently admitted that price rises for some of its products were now \u2018unavoidable.\u2019<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

However, while the Steam Machine\u2019s price stings \u2013 and remains \u201ca bit too expensive to take on the PS5 or the Xbox Series X\u201d \u2013 IGN\u2019s review noted Valve\u2019s approachable new living room device remains easy to recommend<\/u><\/a> as it\u2019s \u201calmost certainly the easiest way to get into PC gaming right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can learn more about the Steam Machine\u2019s price and performance in IGN\u2019s recent interview with Valve.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

<\/p>\n

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In a new interview, Valve has conceded it has no bargaining power when it comes to buying memory from the limited number of companies that produce it at scale and control the bulk of the market. The company explained that doing anything other than agreeing to the price offered would see Valve cut off entirely.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The explosive growth of the AI industry has come with gluttonous demand from AI businesses hoarding the same memory components that consumer electronics need. As demand outpaces supply, prices have shot up sharply. <\/p>\n

For its part, Valve explained that it has not secured contracts for memory components. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, there\u2019s no contract; there\u2019s nothing,\u201d Valve engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais told Gamers Nexus.<\/u><\/a> \u201cLike, those guys\u2026 they give us a price every month, or something, and they say, \u2018You can buy that many, and it\u2019s yes or no.\u2019 And if we say no, then they never talk to us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Valve hasn\u2019t been forthcoming with a precise figure, it\u2019s estimated that the Steam Machine was probably originally going to cost somewhere around USD $750<\/u><\/a> before rocketing RAM costs ruled that out and led to the final USD $1049 price tag.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Valve\u2019s new Steam Machine is far from the only consumer device feeling the pinch of RAM prices. Both Sony<\/u><\/a> and Xbox<\/u><\/a> continue to express concern over the significant challenges of launching new consoles amid such unprecedented demand for memory and storage chips, and Apple recently admitted that price rises for some of its products were now \u2018unavoidable.\u2019<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

However, while the Steam Machine\u2019s price stings \u2013 and remains \u201ca bit too expensive to take on the PS5 or the Xbox Series X\u201d \u2013 IGN\u2019s review noted Valve\u2019s approachable new living room device remains easy to recommend<\/u><\/a> as it\u2019s \u201calmost certainly the easiest way to get into PC gaming right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can learn more about the Steam Machine\u2019s price and performance in IGN\u2019s recent interview with Valve.<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Luke is a Senior Editor on the IGN reviews team. You can track him down on Bluesky @mrlukereilly to ask him things about stuff.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a new interview, Valve has conceded it has no bargaining power when it comes to buying memory from the limited number of companies that produce it at scale and control the bulk of the market. The company explained that doing anything other than agreeing to the price offered would see Valve cut off entirely. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,243],"class_list":["post-2007639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-ign-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}