The pricing leaked before Valve confirmed it
Weeks before Valve's official pricing announcement in June 2026, details started surfacing from Steam's own backend code. Data-miners tracking Steam's systems in mid-May found references to a reservation queue system and four distinct hardware bundles, tied to 512GB and 2TB storage tiers — essentially the exact structure Valve confirmed a month later.
How accurate the leak was
The structural leak (four configurations, two storage tiers, controller bundling) turned out to be correct. The pricing specifics were murkier: early estimates and rumors circulating through May ranged widely, with some outlets speculating Valve could land under €1,000 for the base model given the Deck's reputation for value pricing. The actual confirmed price — €1,039 to start — came in higher than most of the pre-leak speculation expected, which is part of why the eventual announcement landed as a surprise despite the structural leak weeks earlier.
Why leaks like this happen
Valve builds pricing and inventory logic directly into Steam's client-side and backend code ahead of a launch, for testing purposes, and that code isn't always fully hidden from people who know where to look. It's a recurring pattern with Valve hardware launches specifically — structural details tend to leak from code weeks before pricing is public, while final price points are usually confirmed only in the official announcement.
What's confirmed now
All of this is moot at this point — Valve's official pricing has been public since June 2026. If you want the real, current numbers rather than pre-launch speculation, they're on our Steam Machine page.