Tuesday, July 21st 2026
Steam Deck Sales Crash After Price Hike in May
Despite a notable sales blip immediately following the recent RAMpocalypse-driven price hikes, which saw Steam Deck prices skyrocket by $240-300 overnight, it appears as though sales for the Steam Deck have plummeted since the price increases.
According to a recent report by Boiling Steam, which tracks Steam hardware sales by extrapolating Valve's Top Sellers chart data, there has been a massive decline in Steam Deck sales since the beginning of June. The analysts report that the Steam Deck's slide from fifth to 14th in the Top Sellers chart could represent an up to 82% decline in weekly sales figures.
This means that the Steam Deck likely went from selling around 11,000-18,000 units per week in 2025 to as little as 1,400-3,000 units per week in July 2026. Digging deeper into the numbers, this could represent somewhere along the lines of a 72% drop in revenue earned from Steam Deck sales, despite the higher price point. The site predicts that, unless competitor devices with similar pricing, like the more powerful $899.99 ASUS ROG Ally X, also see similar price hikes or prices of the Steam Deck come back down to Earth, demand for the Steam Deck will remain flat.
It's also worth considering that the Steam Deck is somewhat deep into its launch cycle, and fans are already asking for a Steam Deck 2—although Valve has already responded that it will not release a Steam Deck 2 unless it sees significant performance improvements in hardware—so we may also be approaching the natural decline of the Steam Deck's life cycle. After all, we've seen that, despite the high prices, demand for the Steam Machine is still high.
Source:
Boiling Steam
According to a recent report by Boiling Steam, which tracks Steam hardware sales by extrapolating Valve's Top Sellers chart data, there has been a massive decline in Steam Deck sales since the beginning of June. The analysts report that the Steam Deck's slide from fifth to 14th in the Top Sellers chart could represent an up to 82% decline in weekly sales figures.
It's also worth considering that the Steam Deck is somewhat deep into its launch cycle, and fans are already asking for a Steam Deck 2—although Valve has already responded that it will not release a Steam Deck 2 unless it sees significant performance improvements in hardware—so we may also be approaching the natural decline of the Steam Deck's life cycle. After all, we've seen that, despite the high prices, demand for the Steam Machine is still high.
24 Comments on Steam Deck Sales Crash After Price Hike in May
If February-March drop was due to "Availability Issues" at the old price, why is June-July drop not attributed to "Availability Issues" as well?
July "Availability Issues" are further supported by good early June rank (similar to last year), which was already at the new price.
I do want to add used prices of the deck are still good for those that want one it's a good option.
Unfortunately, like everything else, the RAMpocalypse has ruined it.
I wouldn't buy a steam deck with what it costs now, and about every handheld has gotten overpriced. Although between it and a switch I would rather have the steam deck since it's also a PC I can play whatever I want on it, but to each their own.
as for the Switch 2, I think that depends on third party support. I am quite surprised, much better than I expected. Pragmata, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, etc. Fair option, and thanks to DLSS, the Switch 2 has no issues outperforming the Deck. And is what $350 cheaper?
people get the deck because they want a portable option, and it was fairly cheap
now, it isn't as cheap, but, it still gets the job done for what it was made to do
you can get a 5070ti laptop, but that is what, $1700 for barebones? that is still way more expensive than a deck, and is bulky, so people looking for a deck wouldn't get a laptop
The argument against a laptop also makes sense because its not a handheld device, its a lap held device and thats assuming your lap wont restrict the enormious airflow demands of a laptop with a dedicated, high performance gpu. The reason to get a gaming laptop is probably down to either wanting the bigger/better screen and full keyboard for gaming, or because they need a mixed use device that'll do more than just gaming.
I got my steamdeck because I wanted something that wasn't a laptop, mostly so I would force myself away from the additional things a laptop can do over a steamdeck. I wanted the gaming first experience I can throw in a bag and still tell people I can't do that thing you asked right now, I wont be at my pc for a few days because I didnt bring my 16" laptop. If the point of a vacation (or any trip really), is to not be distracted by certain things, these x86 handhelds are brilliant to get some pc gaming and have some worldy compute on hand. That Intel G3 extreme with 14 total cpu cores (2p/8e/4ue?) on the other hand, I find really interesting for this class of handheld. Even at 15-25w thats pretty serious cpu and gpu performance in a handheld, not long ago you might strive for that level of cpu power from an ultrabook but would only get joke worthy graphics to go along with it.
Plenty of profits on ram at these prices!!
You can't really do short stints on a laptop in those places. Hell, even if you did, you can't just push a button and have the game auto-pause, suspend your session in a resumable way, and pop the laptop straight in your bag in the space of 3 seconds.