Why I Think Valve's Retiring the Steam Deck LCD

This week, Valve added a note on the Steam Deck landing page:

We are no longer producing the Steam Deck LCD 256GB model. Once sold out, it will no longer be available.

It's now sold out.

Valve has officially retired the Steam Deck LCD. It's the end of an era and I'm a bit choked up about it. A retronym for the original model Steam Deck, the LCD model has served as the entry-level Deck since the OLED's release.

The LCD model has been discontinued mere weeks after the announcement of the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame.

And in an era where the cost of RAM and NAND chips are skyrocketing due to industry scam artists and gullible business bros... it might be easy to point to these cost increases and say "well, that's why they're cutting the LCD from their lineup." Many outlets have said as much.

So what's the deal? What impact (if any) will the retiring of the LCD model mean for the Deck? And are there secret motivations for killing off the LCD?

Steam Deck 2?!?!?!?!?!

Siiiigh.

I've seen so many news outlets framing the discontinuation of the LCD model as if this means "the Steam Deck 2 is right around the corner." So let's get this out of the way right off the bat.

No. It's not. We all need to chill our squishy little monkey brains about this.

If there were a new hardware iteration of the Deck coming any time soon, Valve would have announced it with the rest of the Steam Hardware.

It wouldn't make any sense to announce three new hardware products and then less than a month later announce a new different hardware product.

Hardware Longevity

The Steam Deck is still an eminently playable gaming device and it will remain the defacto gaming PC for years to come.

I can hear so many of your eyes rolling at that statement but truthfully... Nvidia has been artificially limiting VRAM on GPUs for the last decade. That means, despite flagellatory PC gamers weeping loudly softly into their reddit accounts pillows over the device's "dated" hardware, the Deck's still competitive with the average gaming PC when playing games at its native resolution in the vast majority of games.

Importantly, that also means it's going to remain a capable gaming device for at least four more years.

And I'll die on this hill.

Sure, you won't get hot, new, and shiny graaaafixx^x on the Deck... but truthfully only the PC gamers with the most money to burn will be able to afford that over the next five years, anyway.

Market Conditions

Many folks are pointing to the LCD model losing Valve too much money (especially with market conditions being what they are). But I'm not so convinced.

Frankly, Valve's probably sourced the raw chips months in advance in order to secure their supply chain. Let's not forget that the Steam Deck was released in a similarly uncertain time where silicon was sparse and global logistics were in turmoil.

Sure, the price of RAM and NAND chips are crazy (and seem to be only climbing) but if the LCD was now too expensive to produce I feel like the entire Steam Deck line would also be on the chopping block.

Valve's True Rationale

Or "How Companies Exploit Cognitive Bias"

Before the OLED model, Valve had three different tiers for the Steam Deck. The first, priced at just $399, had a paltry 64GB of storage. Worse yet? It was an eMMc drive–not even NVMe.

Then the mid- and high-tiers swooped in offering NVMe-based SKUs at 256 and 512 gigs (at $529 and $649 respectively).

I don't think Valve wanted anyone to buy the 64GB model.

Instead, the 64 gig model was what's known as an "Pricing Anchor" (some argue it was also a "Decoy product").

"Pricing anchors" and "decoys" are similar enough in concept. They both have to do with exploiting human cognitive bias.

Make no mistake: no matter how smart, unemotional, or objective you think you are... your squishy monkey brain is just as easy to trick as the rest of us silly apes.

Pricing Anchors

Pricing anchors work in a number of ways but they essentially give the vendor a way to set your expectations for you.

At the time (and still to this day) $399 for the entry level Deck seems like a terrific deal. But that also serves to make the mid-tier model seem like an obvious and affordable upgrade.

Plus, it allows media outlets to say "The Steam Deck starts at just $399".

Since the introduction of the OLED, the LCD has occupied the "pricing anchor" tier. The major difference being: the LCD (with a 256GB NVMe SSD) is a much better value than the 64GB model was.

At that price point, the LCD is practically an impulse buy for many gamers with a tighter budget.

But, crucially, Valve also knows all-too-well that gamers have been conditioned to "need the best." And the LCD model acts (err, I guess acted) as FOMO leverage to convince you to spend just a little extra and get the superior OLED screen.

Enter: New Steam Hardware

I believe that the end of the LCD line is an entirely strategic move.

With the discontinuation of the LCD and the introduction of the Machine and Frame, the OLED will suddenly occupy the "Pricing Anchor" slot for Valve's first-party lineup of gaming hardware.

Crucially, I believe Valve sees the $399 price as too low.

Not because they're losing money on it, but because of your squishy little monkey brains.

Let's say that the entry level Steam Machine is $649. Like it or not (and despite them being different SKUs) gamers won't help but to compare $399 to $649. They will then say "no way, Jose."

The truth is, a $529 price anchor for the Steam Deck will make the entry level spread of Steam Hardware seem more palatable.

Gamers already know that the Deck is a great deal and now being able to compare $529 against (the hypothetical) $649? That starts to make the Steam Machine look like an obvious (not to mention affordable) upgrade.

What Happens Now?

I think a few things are likely to happen:

1. The Steam Deck will become the "entry level" Steam hardware.
2. I think there might be a 2TB Steam Deck introduced to fill that third slot in the Steam Deck lineup.
3. The pricing reveal for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame won't feel as extreme to the general public when compared to the Deck.
4. People will still gnash their teeth on reddit weep into their pillows about the Steam Machine pricing, no matter what the final numbers are.

The Future of the LCD

The Steam Deck LCD is still a Steam Deck. It's still has (more or less) the same specs as all the other Deck SKUs.

It's pretty obvious that the Steam Deck LCD will continue being supported for years to come. This means that SteamOS will continue getting updates that support the LCD's hardware. And it means that the LCD is still a capable gaming PC.

What's crazy to consider, though, is the last four years have just flown by.

I started my channel in 2014. It's now over eleven years old. More than a quarter of my channel's history has coincided with the Steam Deck. And now the LCD model is retired.

It's hard to believe but thanks for being on this ride with me!