In a nutshell: With the memory crisis showing no signs of abating, there have been plenty of claims and rumors that Valve is going to delay the Steam Machine and Steam Frame again, possibly into next year. But the company has reaffirmed that the devices will launch this summer – still no word on how much they'll cost, though.
Valve has just announced that the Verified program – originally introduced alongside the Steam Deck to let users know how well a game will run on the handheld – is being expanded to include the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, "both of which are shipping this summer."
The post adds that as with Steam Deck Verified, the goal is to help customers understand the out-of-box experience for a given title on the upcoming devices, and how smoothly a game will run with no user work or configuration required.
Valve said the criteria for Steam Machine/Frame verification are similar to those for Steam Deck Verified: the default graphics configuration needs to perform well, text and UI elements need to be clear and legible on the built-in display, and the default controller configuration needs to work well with the Steam Frame Controllers. This applies to both VR and non-VR titles.
Steamworks documentation notes that Steam Machine dev kit units aren't currently available, which is likely due to the component shortage.
Developers are advised that the best way to ensure compatibility on the Steam Machine is to work on their game's compatibility with Steam Deck. "If your game runs well on Deck, it will also run well on Machine with no extra work required from you," Valve writes.
The Steam Machine and Steam Frame were both delayed from their original target of launching before the end of March. They were supposed to arrive in the first half of the year, but that deadline just passed. With DRAM and NAND prices so high as manufacturers divert their production capacity toward AI data centers, some thought Valve would postpone releasing the devices until next year in hopes that costs would come down.
With a release happening within the next few months, the big question now is price. As we noted in our feature 'This is Why You Won't Buy a Steam Machine in 2026,' when Valve announced the Steam Machine, 16GB of DDR5 would have cost about $50, about the same price as a 512GB SSD. Today, the cheapest single stick of DDR5-4800 on Newegg is priced around $150 to $200. We estimate that in order for Valve to make a profit on the Linux PC, it would likely have to charge at least $800, if not $900.
Brad Lynch, who has a history of Valve-related leaks, said last month that the Steam Machine may cost more than the Steam Deck OLED – referring to the new post-price-increase models, which reach $949, so it's possible that the 2TB Steam Machine model will be $999 or more.
Valve confirms Steam Machine and Steam Frame are still shipping this summer
