In a 2023 UK comparison, earning enough Steam Points for the Summer Collection 2023 Points Shop badge at level 40 was estimated to require about £400 in Steam purchases—more than the Steam Deck’s £314 sale price for its base model at the time. That was a comparison of spending needed to earn points with a discounted hardware price, not a £400 checkout price for the badge.
What the £400 comparison actually measured
The headline refers to the Points Shop seasonal badge, not the separate badge crafted from trading cards. A July 2023 Steam Community discussion about the “Summer Collection 2023” badge specifically clarified that the question concerned the Points Shop version. Participants reported that it required 1,000 Steam Points per level, or 40,000 points for level 40. The discussion is user-reported, not an official Valve statement.
WePC’s July 2023 calculation applied a reported UK earning rate of 100 Steam Points per £1 spent: 40,000 points divided by 100 points per pound equals £400 in purchases. WePC’s article describes that historical conversion. It is an estimate of the spending associated with earning points, not a direct cash price for the badge. Points are the intermediate reward; the resulting purchase also buys whatever games or other eligible items generated them.
How it compared with the UK Steam Deck sale price
In the same July 2023 article, WePC compared the estimated £400 in Steam purchases with UK Steam Deck Summer Sale prices: £314 for the discounted base model and roughly £390 for another model. On those historical figures, the estimated spend needed to earn the level-40 badge exceeded the base Deck’s sale price and was slightly above the other model’s price.
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| 2023 UK comparison | Reported figure | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Points for level 40 | 40,000 points | User-reported requirement for the Points Shop seasonal badge in a July 2023 Steam Community discussion |
| Estimated purchases to earn those points | About £400 | WePC’s calculation using 100 points per £1 spent, reported in July 2023 |
| Discounted base Steam Deck | £314 | UK Summer Sale price reported by WePC in July 2023 |
| Another Steam Deck model | About £390 | UK Summer Sale price reported by WePC in July 2023 |
These are historical UK prices and a historical points conversion, not current prices or a universal comparison. The official Steam Deck page identifies the Deck as a handheld gaming PC, but its captured information does not establish a current price or regional availability. Check the live Steam store for the price and models available where you live.
Why the trading-card badge is a different calculation
Steam badges can also be crafted using trading cards. That route is separate from earning a seasonal badge in the Points Shop: card supply and market prices affect what crafting sets may cost, and the result should not be folded into the 2023 £400 points estimate.
A May 2026 Position is Everything article models a level-40 trading-card badge as forty full sets and gives hypothetical totals from $40 to $600, based on assumed average prices of $0.10 to $1.50 per card across 400 assumed cards. Those figures are scenario arithmetic, not observed market-wide prices, and they describe the card-crafting route rather than the Points Shop badge.
What you get for each kind of spending
- Points Shop route: the historical estimate links Steam purchases to points, which were then used for a profile badge and its levels. The £400 figure does not mean the badge itself cost that amount at checkout.
- Steam Deck purchase: the sale price paid for a portable gaming PC, rather than a profile item. The 2023 £314 and roughly £390 prices applied to specific UK sale offers at that time.
- Trading-card route: a separate way to craft a badge, with costs dependent on the cards needed and their market prices. The 2026 examples are hypothetical, not a fixed badge price.
Is the level-40 badge still available at that cost?
The cited figures establish a 2023 comparison; they do not establish that the same Summer Sale badge is currently available, that it still costs 1,000 points per level, or that the same points-to-spending rate applies now. The official Steam Points Shop page capture did not expose readable details for the badge, so current availability and requirements cannot be confirmed from it.
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