Steam Deck Sales May Have Dropped 82% After Price Hike

Steam Deck sales estimates suggest Valve’s handheld may have suffered an 82% decline in weekly unit sales following recent OLED price increases. However, Valve has not published official figures that confirm the reported drop.

Boiling Steam calculated the decline using Steam revenue rankings, estimated revenue ranges, assumed average selling prices, and predicted sales splits between Steam Deck models.

Steam Deck Price Increases May Have Affected Demand

Valve increased Steam Deck OLED prices on May 27, citing higher memory and storage costs.

The price changes appear to have raised the estimated average selling price of a Steam Deck from approximately $540 to around $835. That increase plays a major role in Boiling Steam’s calculations because Steam only publishes revenue-based rankings rather than unit sales.

A product can therefore generate similar revenue while selling fewer units if its average price increases.

Steam Deck Drops in Steam Revenue Rankings

The Steam Deck ranked fourth on Steam’s weekly revenue chart for the week ending June 2.

It then moved through sixth, fifth, eighth, ninth, and tenth place during the following weeks. The handheld dropped more sharply to 16th place for the week ending July 14.

Based on those ranking movements, Boiling Steam estimates that weekly Steam Deck revenue previously ranged between $6 million and $10 million.

That would represent approximately 11,000 to 18,000 Steam Deck units sold each week under the earlier estimated average selling price.

Recent weekly sales could have fallen to between 1,400 and 3,000 units, according to the same calculations. At the lower end, that would represent a decline of as much as 82%.

Valve Has Not Confirmed the Sales Decline

The reported decline remains an estimate rather than a confirmed sales result.

Valve does not release weekly Steam Deck revenue, shipment totals, or unit sales. Boiling Steam instead relies on estimated revenue brackets associated with each position in Steam’s weekly rankings.

The calculation also assumes how sales divide between different Steam Deck configurations and uses an estimated average selling price. Changes to any of those assumptions could significantly alter the final unit estimates.

The 82% figure should therefore not be treated as an official measure of Steam Deck demand.

Steam Deck Returns to Ninth Place

The Steam Deck showed signs of recovery during the week ending July 21.

Valve’s handheld climbed seven positions to reach ninth place on Steam’s weekly revenue chart. The improvement suggests that the earlier ranking decline may not be continuing at the same rate.

However, one stronger week does not establish whether demand has fully recovered following the OLED price increases.

Steam Machine Sales Also Remain Unconfirmed

Separate estimates suggest Valve could be selling up to 15,000 Steam Machines per week, despite the high launch price.

Like the Steam Deck calculations, those figures remain speculative because Valve has not published official weekly unit sales.

Valve has also revealed its Steam sale schedule through June 2027, giving publishers and players advance notice of upcoming seasonal sales and themed promotional events.

Via VideoCardz