Valve's Steam Machine was supposed to be an affordable gaming PC for the living room. Rising memory and storage prices have turned that dream into a pricing nightmare.
This is Why You Won't Buy a Steam Machine in 2026
- Thread starter Scorpus
- Start date
I think say, $850 is still reasonable.. marginally cheaper than a PS5 Pro, and while probably less capable technically, it has many thousands of more titles, available back to the very dawn of PC gaming which is unique. Remembering also you can run a DOS, SNES, N64, PS1, PS2, etc emulator on it, as well as anything else that is locked down on consoles as well if you want to.
Even in 5 years time, when the PS5 is obsolete by the PS6, and no longer selling any games, you'll still be able to play plenty of new titles on the Steam Machine.
I think AAA titles will start to scale back technical ambitions (due to wider player base), for gameplay, which should also mean the Steam Machine has plenty of years of life. Remember it is playing in the same market as everyone else, chasing the very same GPU + mem + SSD constraints. If its an expensive Steam Machine, it is also an expensive custom PC build.
It's still a nice compact box, that will have "plug it in to your TV, and it just works" capability, which I think is still a great selling point.
Even in 5 years time, when the PS5 is obsolete by the PS6, and no longer selling any games, you'll still be able to play plenty of new titles on the Steam Machine.
I think AAA titles will start to scale back technical ambitions (due to wider player base), for gameplay, which should also mean the Steam Machine has plenty of years of life. Remember it is playing in the same market as everyone else, chasing the very same GPU + mem + SSD constraints. If its an expensive Steam Machine, it is also an expensive custom PC build.
It's still a nice compact box, that will have "plug it in to your TV, and it just works" capability, which I think is still a great selling point.
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I think when Valve started designing it they wanted the price to start somewhere between $500-600. Then, all the AI companies started buying up memory and nand at ridiculous rates. People are saying they wouldn't buy it above X price level. Look, I hate to say it, but this is the new market normal. You can say you won't buy it above X, but you arent the component companies target customer. Valve could release it in limited quantities, but I have a feeling we'll get a steam deck 2 before we get a steam machine, if we get one at all.
That's a problem if the first batch is already built and paid for.
Anton Longshot
Posts: 465 +777
So, what I see is an expensive low-spec PC.
Who would want/buy such a thing?
Who would want/buy such a thing?
Part of the reason I think it'll be a limited release. I think they might have a few hundred prototype units sitting on shelves meant as review units and for third parties to design accessoriesaround, but I don't think they went into full production. If they had, we would be getting leaked images coming out of factories
Because expensive is the new market normal. Is it expensive in 2023 money? Yes, but the prices of everything in all spec ranges have gone up. Midrange range PCs are firmly in the $1200-1500 market now so this coming out at 800-900 in the current market is reasonable.
Sure, it's not photos yet but this is a leak right here. We'll see. Maybe, as others have said, it's just restocking of Decks instead.
You're right, but you can occasionally find good deals at BestBuy and in the clearance section at places like iBuyPower in the $900-$1200 range that have similar or better specs to the Steam Machine. A $900 machine probably would undercut, but not by much.
I also wonder how much Steam would have an appetite for lowering the price after the fact, because if they go on sale today, they would probably start up the production lines paying at today's prices, and if those prices fall, how quickly would they need to cut the price, and how much overlap would there need to be on machines manufactured at the higher price versus a lower one.
Could be. If I were them I'd just take the loss and do the market share play, it's not like they are strapped for cash. Either that, or cancel this version entirely, go back to the drawing board and bump up the specs a bit, and come back next year (or whenever the market regains its sanity) and try again. Just like video games, a delayed release is a better play than a borked one.
The Talking Tech
Posts: 1,220 +2,798
"This hardware, if you've been following PC gaming closely, is not especially powerful by modern standards."
Very true and based on those system specs anything higher than $600.00 it would be a total waste of money.
Very true and based on those system specs anything higher than $600.00 it would be a total waste of money.
Megalomaniac
Posts: 1,136 +1,211
Makes way for sense to buy a regular gaming desktop for $899 - $1199
It really needs a 9060/xt 16GB. It's about the same size die wise, has the same 128 bit bus, and there is a lower TDP version that fits in the 7600m's profile.
plyanthony321
Posts: 14 +10
They might sell it at a loss. I think that would depend on the data / sale insights they have with the steam deck. If hardware sale loss is less than the average game purchase revenue generated by the machine then it could work. Just like the first year of PS3, it was sold at a loss and it ended up working out, a closed platform of course tho which is a separate factor, where this is not. And all the $$ numbers everybody prices out isnt what it will cost Valve to build, OEM'S always work out deals based on order quantities which will bring the BOM down. $700-$750 off the shelves price might work out to around $600-$650 true bill of materials.
This is completely out of touch with the way the market is now, any decent PC capable of playing games starts around $900-1000.
The storage and RAM in the Steam Machine would be over $300-400 alone for 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, hardware would have to be sold at a complete loss. Sony and Microsoft can sell consoles at a loss to some extent from subscription services, Valve can't.
I don't really see the value of the Steam Machine in the current market. Perhaps it could serve as a kind of limited release beta test for something better to come in the future though. The concept is cool, even if it's not a product I'd be likely to purchase (as a person who loves to build custom desktop PCs).
They should drop it and look to release a newer spec one in Fall 2027 (or whenever the prices come down).
It honestly would be easy to swap out to current hardware at comparable TDP when prices start cooling.
It honestly would be easy to swap out to current hardware at comparable TDP when prices start cooling.
foxrox
Posts: 61 +54
It really should only be viewed as a novelty item for a PC enthusiast and a nasty-finger salute to console manufacturers and Micro$lop. At best, a replacement for console jockeys that are addicted to click-and-go couch gaming but tired of the non-stop overpriced garbage being pushed at them by XBOX and PlayStation.
deathspeed
Posts: 653 +607
It was DOA with them targeting a SFF PC price anyway. This needs to be $500 or less an they were suggesting around double that.
You say that like a 5060Ti and 32GB of DDR5 isn’t $1000. A low mid tier PC costs like $2000 now
I won't buy it because a PC is still the cheapest device to play on in 2026.
We are in a place where we can either refuse to continue our hobby or pay
Recent price hike. Of course they will pay, or pay triple for ram and ssd for PC.
We are in a place where we can either refuse to continue our hobby or pay
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