Eight months after Valve first announced the Steam Machine, the home console may finally be ready for prime time. After several delays due to the global RAM shortage, insiders are suggesting the Steam Machine could launch as early as next week.
The leak comes a couple of weeks after Valve announced that the Steam Machine and Steam Frame would be “shipping this summer”. Over the weekend, the gaming giant rolled out a beta update to SteamOS, with the patch notes stating it included “initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware”.
Seeing Valve compete directly with Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox for the first time, the Steam Machine is purpose-built as a console and is compact enough to sit under your TV for sofa-friendly play. It is powered by a custom AMD chip and promises smooth 4K gaming, with upscaling technology to boost image clarity and performance. Here’s everything we know so far, from price to release date.
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Steam Machine release date
Finally, some good news. After initially stating the Steam Machine would release in the first half of the year, and then changing that commitment to state that it would be released in 2026, Valve has now promised that the Steam Machine will begin shipping this summer. The company launched the Steam Controller in early May, interestingly without the console itself.
And we may now have a release date. According to X leaker Steam Hardware Updates, reviewers and content creators are currently receiving review units of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, with the review embargo lifting on 23 June. The leaker believes the console will be announced on 23 June at 6pm BST, with gamers able to reserve a console on Tuesday 30 June at 6pm BST.
It may be worth it to start and save up a good amount of money towards it, and we’ll find out on announcement day, which is likely 10 days.
In May, a Steam update code, discovered by a Reddit user, suggested that Valve would employ a reservation queue system for the Steam Machine, similar to the one used for the Steam Controller. The reservation system would allow customers to join a waiting list and receive an invitation to purchase by email when stock becomes available. This should help stop scalpers.
In early March, the company recommitted to launching the console in 2026, telling publications that it hopes to release more information about the console, as well as the Steam Frame – a VR headset designed to compete with the Meta Quest – very soon.
When Valve announced the release date of the Steam Controller in late April, it told several publications that it would have news on the Steam Machine soon. “We don't have exact details about the timeline to share today,” Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais told IGN. “And we're hard at work on trying to get them out the door. I think we are definitely expecting to roll out some news soon about that, but in general, I think things are going well.”
Steam Machine price
While Valve still hasn't revealed any pricing details for the Steam Machine, it could cost considerably more than originally expected. In May, the company increased the price of its Steam Deck OLED by more than 40 per cent due to rising memory and storage costs. The 512GB model increased from £479 to £649, while the 1TB version increased from £569 to £779.
When Valve first announced the Steam Machine, it told The Verge that it would be “comparable to a PC with similar specs”, but “positioned closer to the entry level PC space”. Valve also told Eurogamer that the Steam Machine should be in the “same ballpark as other consoles” on the market.
Since then, however, Valve has said that production costs for the Steam Machine have been impacted by skyrocketing RAM prices, which have more than doubled in recent months. The company had planned to release pricing information by now, but has delayed announcing anything concrete.
In June, Insider Gaming's executive editor Mike Straw stated that the Steam Machine’s price was nowhere near what the company was predicting. Given it bumped the price of the Steam Deck, that could signal bad news for the Steam Machine too.
Valve has confirmed the Steam Machine will launch "this summer" after pushing it out of spring. A price, however, hasn't been announced.
I've heard rumblings that the price is "nowhere near" where it was originally planned, but don't know what that is. pic.twitter.com/w4Pn0kWWCQ
I initially predicted that the price of the Valve Steam Machine would fall closer to that of the price of the £700 PS5 Pro rather than the Nintendo Switch 2, which costs £395. If there is a price hike, then the two Steam Machine configurations could cost well over £1,000.
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Steam Machine specs and design
Valve’s new Steam Machine is essentially a tiny living-room PC disguised as a console. The gaming company says the whole thing is about the size of a 6in cube, which is small enough to slide under a telly or perch on a desk without taking up too much room.
It runs SteamOS and supports fast suspend and resume, cloud saves and a familiar Steam Deck-style interface. The front features a customisable LED light strip, and the power supply is built into the body rather than sitting in an external brick. There seem to be loads of ports too, including twin display outputs via HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, as well as four USB-A ports, a 10Gbps USB-C port and a Gigabit Ethernet port on the rear. Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 are built in, and the machine has a dedicated wireless receiver for pairing with the new Steam Controller. The Steam Machine also features a magnetic, removable front plate. Valve reportedly has plans to release 3D files so people can print their own designs.
Valve has also confirmed that, while SteamOS is the default operating system, the Steam Machine won’t be locked down like a traditional console. Speaking to Eurogamer, the company said users are free to install other operating systems and “bootloader to your heart’s content”, making it possible to run third-party apps and games bought outside of Steam if you want to treat the hardware more like a conventional PC.
The Steam controller works across all of the Steam devices, and pairs directly with the Steam Machine. Valve says the gamepad uses magnetic thumbsticks that are designed to feel more responsive and last longer, and there’s a new magnetic charging puck that doubles as its wireless adapter. You can still use Bluetooth or USB if you prefer, and the controller will support motion controls through a feature called Grip Sense. This turns gyro aiming on or off, depending on how you hold it.
In November, Valve developer Pierre-Loup Griffais told the Friends Per Second podcast that the Steam Machine supports HDMI-CEC, so it can turn your TV on and off, and that the console can be powered on from the controller. Weirdly, this typical console feature, Griffais said, was difficult to replicate on a console PC.
In terms of specs? According to Valve, the new Steam Machine delivers more than six times the horsepower of the Steam Deck and is built to run your entire Steam library, including modern AAA games. However, Valve has said that compatibility wouldn’t be perfect at launch, particularly when it comes to multiplayer games that rely on kernel-level anti-cheat software, which can prevent some online titles from running on SteamOS, even if the game itself would otherwise work through Valve’s Proton compatibility layer.
It uses a semi-custom AMD processor and graphics chip, while supporting 4K gaming at 60fps through FSR upscaling. Two models will be available at launch, a 512GB version and a 2TB version, and both support additional storage using a microSD card.
On the inside, there’s reportedly 16GB of RAM, plus room for NVMe SSD upgrades if you want more storage than the built-in 512GB or 2TB models. There’s also reportedly support for features like ray tracing when paired with the right TV or monitor. In an early demo, The Verge claimed the Steam Machine was able to run Cyberpunk 2077 at settings that looked roughly in line with what you’d expect from a PS5 Pro.
Valve has also confirmed the Steam Machine will support HDR over both HDMI and DisplayPort, along with variable refresh rate features such as AMD FreeSync. This should mean the console should work well on modern TVs and monitors for richer colours, better contrast and smoother gameplay. Essentially, it’ll play like a PS5 or Xbox Series X.
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