Last November, Valve made the surprise announcement of three upcoming pieces of hardware. The Steam Machine, a console-like PC gaming device, the Steam Frame, the company’s take on a mobile VR headset, and the Steam Controller. While these projects were planned to release within Q1 2026, the company has now confirmed that they are not ready to commit to any pricing or release information just yet.
The Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller are each evolution of past hardware Valve has released and responses to the success of the Steam Deck and its Steam OS Linux-based operating system. The Steam Machine is a direct translation of the Steam Deck’s features to a console-like device that promises to be six times more powerful than the handheld. The Steam Frame is the company’s response to the Meta Quest VR headset and an evolution of the company’s previous Index VR headset, and the Steam Controller takes the features and ergonomics of the Steam Deck and condenses them into a single PC controller.
Despite a planned release by the end of Q1 2026, Valve spent all of January in complete silence regarding release or pricing information for each of these anticipated pieces of hardware. Today, in a suddenly released Steam Hardware FAQ, the company confirmed that it had planned to release this information by now when the devices were first announced in November, however it is still currently unable to confirm specific details due to “the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry”.
The company states “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). Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change.”
Many fans and industry analysts have had concerns specifically regarding the pricing of the Steam Machine since the hike in consumer prices for RAM and other storage formats in late last year due to the current tech race for generative AI deals, with Crucial brand owner Micron announcing the closure of its consumer product business by the end of this month in favour of using its hardware to supply AI data centers.
Despite these setbacks, Valve claims it is still committed to releasing its hardware in the first half of the year, however given that the company has implied that it will not be subsidizing the cost of its tech this time around unlike it did for the Steam Deck in its launch, it might be fair to expect a hefty price tag once the news does drop.
The Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller are planned to release in the first half of 2026.
