Honestly, no big surprise here.
Given that lower performance platforms rely on up scaling and frame generation technologies even the Retail costs of gathering/assembling these parts are not so much.
However since Valve has access to the OEM/Wholesale costs/pricing Valve could hit a $400-600 retail price point on their box and still make a profit.
Yes there WILL BE future games that may not run or run well on platforms such as this one. (much like ANY currently released console)
Quote from: GeorgeS on Today at 20:01:43Yes there WILL BE future games that may not run or run well on platforms such as this one.
There are some modern games that barely run on an RTX 2080, and that then-high-end GPU was significantly more expensive than a whole Steam Machine (unless they price is crazy-high, which they won't). So that's to be expected. Luckily (or not, depends how you look at it), many modern 2023-2026 games are too generic, too boring, and too forgettable. Some rare exceptions exist which is why the lack of USB4/TB4/Oculink is a weird choice to make, as with an eGPU this could go for years to come, without sweat...