The issue with the steam machine is not so much the price in absolute terms but the competition. On one hand there are the PS5 and Xbox consoles that are quite cheap and with a lot of fans, and on other hands there are the millions of desktop pc and laptop that run steam as well if not better.

The steam deck was a success because there was only the aging Nintendo switch on the console side, and absolutely nothing on the "able to run steam" side. And the price was very competitive : 430€ for the most basic model, when several years before the switch was 330€ and the switch 2 is now 430€.