Steam Machine

Valve said Thursday that the Steam Machine will have a summer release date. When the hardware was first revealed, the company said it would be coming in early 2026. On Feb. 4, Valve confirmed the PC would be delayed in its first major update about the Steam Machine since it was unveiled. This year is turning out to be quite a tumultuous time for gaming. It's been almost six years since the release of the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, which is usually the time when those companies would begin teasing their new hardware. However, due to the memory shortage, those companies have instead been forc

There are no preorders available for the Steam Machine yet. When preorders become available, they will likely be available on the Steam Machine hardware page.  If Valve does do preorders, the company may have a system in place to roll out consoles in a timely manner, as it did with the Steam Deck. With the Steam Deck, you could preorder the device, and based on when an order was submitted, you would get a designated timeframe for its release and when you'd receive it.  Valve also required anyone who wanted to preorder the Steam Deck to have a Steam account. This would prevent scalpers from ord

This is arguably the biggest question about the Steam Machine, and for good reason. Valve said the console would be priced in the same range as a gaming PC with the same kind of power. There has been speculation that this would put the price at around $600 to $800.  However, the global RAM shortage continues to raise the price of memory. This could mean the Steam Machine may cost $1,000 or more, which would be a hard sell for many and make it less competitive against the PlayStation 5 or a regular gaming PC.  Valve said on Feb. 4 that it's still trying to figure out the price of the Steam Mach

Valve has released the specs for the Steam Machine, but on the hardware page, there is a note at the bottom stating, "some specifications subject to change ahead of availability." It's not common to see that kind of disclaimer, which hints that if tariffs or  RAM shortages make the console too expensive, Valve may make adjustments to keep the price attractive.