It's funny to see people be surprised by this, steam is a lot more beloved and trusted by their fans then any other place cuz of how consistently good they are to they're customers. Even at this unfortunate price point people likely still see it as a good value.

This is the true value of not fucking over your consumers with short sighted nonsense.

Zero surprises beyond the lack of a reservation queue, but I guess that's what happens when you use distributors that dgaf beyond the sale.

How many they sold is the real question though.

PC component prices are a little higher in Japan on average than in North America, and the shortages are affecting Japan more acutely in the DIY computer space.

Even at a higher price, a compact, quiet offering of a decently capable machine does have a solid appeal to that market.

Not only expensive considering the exchange rate, but that's an averageish entire month's salary for the majority of the country, big cities excepted. Steam Deck, don't fail me now!

It was obvious.

When you buy an expensive item you expect to use for many years a price diff of this magnitude will not stop those who have this as their main hobbies.

I expect the same to happen in all countries with (comparatively) wealthy-ish populations.

The only thing the high price will do is to make it more likely to even get one in time, unlike the controller.

The same will likely be true for the frame.