Valve has pushed back the launch of its Steam Machine console, Steam Frame VR headset, and new Steam Controller due to ongoing memory and storage shortages driven by AI demand. The company still aims to release the devices in the first half of 2026 but has not finalized pricing or exact dates. This delay follows the products' announcement in November 2025.
Valve announced its new hardware lineup in November 2025, reviving the Steam Machine as a home console sibling to the Steam Deck, alongside a new Steam Controller and the wireless Steam Frame VR headset. The Steam Machine is a compact, black box measuring 5.98 x 6.39 x 6.14 inches (152 x 162.4 x 156mm), featuring a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU with six cores up to 4.8GHz, a semi-custom RDNA3 AMD GPU, 16GB DDR RAM, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM, and storage options of 512GB or 2TB. It supports Bluetooth 5.3, Wi-Fi 6E, and includes ports like DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, four USB-A ports (two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.2 Gen 1), and one USB-C.
Valve claims the device can run the majority of Steam titles at 4K 60FPS using AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR), though some games may require more upscaling or lower frame rates for 1080p resolution. It runs on SteamOS, Valve's Linux-based OS, with Proton enabling Windows games, similar to the Steam Deck. For multiplayer titles, Valve hopes the Steam Machine will encourage better anti-cheat support. As Valve told Eurogamer, "While [the] Steam Machine also requires dev participation to enable anti-cheat, we think the incentives for enabling anti-cheat on Machine to be higher than on Deck as we expect more people to play multiplayer games on it. Ultimately we hope that the launch of Machine will change the equation around anti-cheat support and increase its support."
However, industry-wide shortages of RAM and storage, fueled by AI infrastructure needs, have forced Valve to revisit its plans. In a February 2026 blog post, the company stated, "When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame)." Valve still targets a first-half 2026 launch but notes pricing will align with comparably specced gaming PCs, potentially higher due to component costs. Designer Pierre-Loup Griffais told The Verge the price would be "positioned closer to the entry level of the PC space" and competitive with self-built PCs.
Digital Foundry has raised concerns about the 8GB GDDR6 VRAM limiting performance in modern AAA games compared to consoles like the PS5. Valve is addressing this with memory management improvements, better upscaling, and ray tracing optimizations. The Steam Machine allows easy upgrades to its SSD and memory, and supports various Bluetooth controllers and Steam Link streaming.
