Steam Deck OLED gets a surprise price bump in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan

HARDWARE NEWS manhkbrady - 2 hours ago

Rising memory costs that have already impacted much of the PC hardware market now appear to be affecting consoles as well. The Steam Deck has received a price increase in parts of Asia, with Komodo, Valve’s official distributor in Japan and other regional markets, announcing a notable hike across all available models. The roughly $100 increase will take effect on March 6, leaving prospective buyers only a short window to purchase the device at its current price.

Komodo has confirmed that the Steam Deck OLED price hike applies across several Asian markets, with Japan experiencing the largest adjustment. Beginning March 6, both the 512GB and 1TB models will cost approximately $100 more. In Japan specifically, prices are increasing by ¥15,000, bringing the 512GB OLED to ¥99,800 (up from ¥84,800) and the 1TB version to ¥114,800 (previously ¥99,800).

The Valve Steam Deck handheld gaming device displays its recent games library on screen.

According to Komodo, the increase is not directly tied to rising RAM prices. Instead, the distributor cites higher shipping and logistics expenses, increased storage and handling costs, and ongoing currency fluctuations as the primary reasons. Exchange rate volatility, in particular, can significantly impact pricing in import-dependent markets.

While Komodo does not attribute the change to memory shortages, AI-driven demand continues to tighten supply chains - especially in sectors like GPUs and memory, where companies such as Nvidia are increasingly focusing on data center products. With DRAM prices reportedly climbing sharply, hardware costs are rising across the board. If those pressures begin to directly affect Valve’s production costs, this $100 Steam Deck increase may prove to be only the first adjustment.

At the same time, Sony is reportedly feeling the impact of ongoing memory shortages as well. A report from last month suggested that these supply constraints could potentially delay the launch of the PlayStation 6 until as late as 2029. Meanwhile, Nintendo is also said to be monitoring rising memory costs, with the possibility of a price increase later this year. That said, neither company has officially commented on these claims.

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