> Despite this price hike (and the handheld's aged internals), both models of the Steam Deck sold out in North America shortly after the increase was announced back in May. The 1 TB model, which is going for £779 where I'm based in the UK, appears to be out of stock again at the time of writing. But I doubt this is a sustainable trend.

(Doesn't really explain why this is not a sustainable trend).

Memory prices raise the price on everything. We are still a ways out from gaming being broadly unaffordable, it's still a relatively inexpensive hobby for how much time is spent on it. Worst case scenario, there is 0 new gaming hardware produced and we are forced into a retro paradigm that focuses on performance and portability and repair, which honestly doesn't seem so bad with how dysfunctional the AAA industry has been.