Valve insists Steam Machine launch is still on track for this year

[midian182]

In a nutshell: With all the problems and delays stemming from the memory crisis, it's understandable that people are worried about the Steam Machine being delayed for a second time. Those fears were intensified on Friday when Valve said a fairly noncommittal "we hope to ship in 2026." But the company has now emphasized that the device will arrive this year.

In February, Valve published its first hardware-related post since announcing the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller 2 last year. The devices were supposed to launch before the end of March, but Valve extended the window to the first half of 2026.

On Friday, Valve's new Steam Year in Review 2025 post mentioned that the company "hope[s]" the devices would ship this year. It led to plenty of speculation that another delay was on the cards or, at the very least, Valve isn't confident it will meet its H1 2026 timeline.

Responding to the speculation, a Valve PR rep told The Verge that "nothing has actually changed on our end." While that statement alone might not alleviate fears, Valve's post has been amended to read "we will be shipping all three products this year." It also mentions that this will happen despite the current industry challenges.

It might not be delayed for a second time, but the memory shortages are likely to push the Steam Machine's MSRP higher than Valve initially intended. The PC/console hybrid has 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM. Those aren't exactly huge numbers, but DDR5 and GDDR6 have become comically expensive recently. Most estimates say the Steam Machine's price will be around $700, though it could reach $1,000 for a 1TB version.

Like every other tech giant, Valve is facing a series of issues related to the industry's memory crisis. In addition to the original Steam Machine delay, the company confirmed last month that the Steam Deck OLED is out of stock because of the memory and storage shortages.

It's impossible to escape stories about how AI data centers' appetite for memory and storage is forcing manufacturers to redirect production capacity to this lucrative market. Unfortunately, the issue is not going away anytime soon, with some insiders estimating it will last beyond 2027.

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Valve insists Steam Machine launch is still on track for this year

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[Loadedaxe]

If it costs $600 to $700 could be huge, but I do not think it will.
If it’s $1000+ it’ll probably stay a niche device for PC enthusiasts and not be successful.

At best, I can't see it being under $900...more like $999 and that is going to be a hard pill to swallow for the masses unless they offer up a few AAA titles with it.

Interesting for sure. I do hope it does well, I would really like to see Linux take off for gamers.

 

[ScottSoapbox]

They should take the AI price surge as an excuse and come back with a 16GB 9060 XT version when prices drop. At that point it will be next gen and not the latest node (cheaper) and the masses can enjoy upscaling and adequate vram.

That would be far superior to crapscaling and lacking vram, a year late and $200 overpriced.

 

[LordVile95]

If it costs $600 to $700 could be huge, but I do not think it will.
If it’s $1000+ it’ll probably stay a niche device for PC enthusiasts and not be successful.

At best, I can't see it being under $900...more like $999 and that is going to be a hard pill to swallow for the masses unless they offer up a few AAA titles with it.

Interesting for sure. I do hope it does well, I would really like to see Linux take off for gamers.

They said competitive with a SFF at announcement which would have been 1000. Now it’s likely to be 1200+. Ontop of that it’ll be anemic in terms of performance. It would’ve a nice console replacement for a TV but not as a main PC replacement but unless it’s under 600 it’s not competitive with consoles that will outperform it.

 

[Loadedaxe]

They said competitive with a SFF at announcement which would have been 1000. Now it’s likely to be 1200+. Ontop of that it’ll be anemic in terms of performance. It would’ve a nice console replacement for a TV but not as a main PC replacement but unless it’s under 600 it’s not competitive with consoles that will outperform it.

I agree, at that price I don't think it will succeed.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

For a PC with a RX 7400 GPU that cant be upgraded, anything over $300 is DOA. That GPU was pathetic when it came out and that was 3 years ago.

 

[Stoly]

I had a hard time believing it would cost less than $700 when it was first announced. No way it will be less than $1,000 with current ram pricing.

 

[LordVile95]

I agree, at that price I don't think it will succeed.

On top of that we have Microsoft potentially announcing an Xbox/PC hybrid soon and they can fork out significantly more than valve and ear a bigger loss on hardware sales

 

[yRaz]

I don't think people understand that steam isn't going to just pull a price out of their ***. Its going to cost what the hardware market says it will cost them to make. Its not going to cost $600 if there is $600 worth of memory and storage in it. Steam doesn't have a dial they turn to adjust the price. You buy the hardware and the services are free. It's not like a console where it is heavily subsidized by subscriptions and data collection.

 

[The Talking Tech]

This Steam machine and the Xbox Hybrid are all coming out in a very terrible time for hardware affordability.

They will regret not waiting an addional two years.

 

[Hecate91]

Some people definitely have no understanding that Valve just can't price the Steam Machine at whatever they want to appease a customer base that is bashing on it for the GPU, who probably wouldn't buy one regardless.
Valve may have been selling the Steam Deck for just slightly more than what it costs to manufacture, however it's completely out of stock and in the current market you can't build or buy a PC with a Zen4 6 core and a RX6600 for $600, not when RAM and an SSD will cost at least $500.

 

[m4a4]

Some people definitely have no understanding that Valve just can't price the Steam Machine at whatever they want to appease a customer base that is bashing on it for the GPU, who probably wouldn't buy one regardless.

Yeah, these are for people who want the freedom of a PC, but also the ease of a Console. A family room gaming machine.

It's not meant to replace your main rig, or even meant to be the cheapest short term. Though, in the long term, it'll more than likely be worth it. With Steam's family sharing, it'll be even nicer for people who want to painlessly share their PC games with their family. And without having to play the role of IT Support nearly as often.

 

[LordVile95]

I don't think people understand that steam isn't going to just pull a price out of their ***. Its going to cost what the hardware market says it will cost them to make. Its not going to cost $600 if there is $600 worth of memory and storage in it. Steam doesn't have a dial they turn to adjust the price. You buy the hardware and the services are free. It's not like a console where it is heavily subsidized by subscriptions and data collection.

You think they don’t collect data?

 

[yRaz]

You think they don’t collect data?

No. I don't think Vlave collects data and sells advertising space on my devices.

 

[LordVile95]

No. I don't think Vlave collects data and sells advertising space on my devices.

Aside from the advertising space on their store and all the data they sell to 3rd parties without aggregating it.

 

[yRaz]

Aside from the advertising space on their store and all the data they sell to 3rd parties without aggregating it.

I don't boot up steam and see ads for sports betting or stuff linked to my Amazon account. Steam is a store front as much as it is a service so I knew what I was getting into when I installed it. I can also set steam up so I never see the store front and it goes directly to my games library. You cant disable the ads on an Xbox or PlayStation

 

[LordVile95]

I don't boot up steam and see ads for sports betting or stuff linked to my Amazon account. Steam is a store front as much as it is a service so I knew what I was getting into when I installed it. I can also set steam up so I never see the store front and it goes directly to my games library. You cant disable the ads on an Xbox or PlayStation

Nope you see ads for games. Maybe players who buy more in game items get shown more ads for games that have tons of microtransactions, maybe they get pushed to valves games with loot boxes and gambling. Maybe your user data is passed on to google or meta etc

 

[TheUsername]

Nope you see ads for games. Maybe players who buy more in game items get shown more ads for games that have tons of microtransactions, maybe they get pushed to valves games with loot boxes and gambling. Maybe your user data is passed on to google or meta etc

From what I've read off the privacy policy agreement (idk if I can link it), Valve definetly uses your personal data (I.e. what genre of games you play the most, etc) to recommend you games, but it won't share its data to google or meta ("Valve and its subsidiaries may share your Personal Data with each other...") since Valve does not own either of these companies we can assume nothing is shared to them. The only third-party they will share to are third-party networks (CDN), and Steamworks API users(other steam users and Valve's partners).

 

[Hotdog1n]

POV: pc components =40% of price / ram = 60% of price




(I am joking btw)

 

[LordVile95]

From what I've read off the privacy policy agreement (idk if I can link it), Valve definetly uses your personal data (I.e. what genre of games you play the most, etc) to recommend you games, but it won't share its data to google or meta ("Valve and its subsidiaries may share your Personal Data with each other...") since Valve does not own either of these companies we can assume nothing is shared to them. The only third-party they will share to are third-party networks (CDN), and Steamworks API users(other steam users and Valve's partners).

They share it with “3rd party partners” which go beyond those you mentioned

 

[yRaz]

They share it with “3rd party partners” which go beyond those you mentioned

There is a big difference between some of the data collection practices they have or that you agree to when installing a non-stwam game compared to something like Samsung limiting the functionality of a fridge unless I let them use it as a billboard. If you can't see why one is toxic and the other is not then this conversation is silly to carry on.

 

[Endymio]

They share it with “3rd party partners” which go beyond those you mentioned

I'm a privacy advocate myself, but there's a certain degree of irony in people who spend their lives Twitch-streaming their gameplay sessions to one and all being outraged over Steam sharing their game choices with others.

 

[LordVile95]

There is a big difference between some of the data collection practices they have or that you agree to when installing a non-stwam game compared to something like Samsung limiting the functionality of a fridge unless I let them use it as a billboard. If you can't see why one is toxic and the other is not then this conversation is silly to carry on.

Mate they don’t even aggregate the data, it’s probably the worst form of data collection there is.

 

[LordVile95]

I'm a privacy advocate myself, but there's a certain degree of irony in people who spend their lives Twitch-streaming their gameplay sessions to one and all being outraged over Steam sharing their game choices with others.

It’s more where else it’s going, which is opaque, the fact it’s not aggregated, which is insane and the fact it could massively abused to target people based on their purchases to spend more and advertise pay to win games and those with gambling mechanics such as CS which funnily enough valve own

 

[OortCloud]

I feel like $600 is what I'd pay for it, but I fear with the current price of components it's likely to be around $900 which is way too much for such an anaemic GPU.