Valve just release a news update where they answer some of the most asked questions regarding their newly announced hardware, with those being the Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller, which were unveiled just some months ago, back in November 12th, 2025.

In this news report, they answer some of the most critical questions that many interested customers had regarding their hardware, with the most important being how much will the hardware cost and when will it release? To which, Valve responded with the following statement:

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).

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. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible.

As many theorized, the fast-changing and increasing prices of RAM, GPU and SSD's due to AI demand has been a detriment to the release date and prices that Valve had planned for all their 3 hardware products this year, much more so with the prices hiking just a bare days after Valve's original announcement back in November.

Still, despite the dreaded technology landscape at the moment, Valve is still committed to releasing their hardware during the first half of 2026, albeit with no given date as of yet.

Additionally, Valve also took the opportunity to answer some questions regarding technical details of their hardware, like the Steam Frame having a built-in internet browser, from which players can use other stream services through a browser theatrical mode, the Steam Machine being able to play many titles at 4k 60fps, although specifying that some heavy titles might require upscaling to hit a playable 1080p target, and the SSD and DDRAM5 of the Steam Machine being modifiable/upgradable on release.

There's more detailed information in the news blog post that Valve released today, for those interested in the full read of the article.

Source

 

[Axido]

That is called DDOS. From what I've heard, you can actualy subscribe to "shaddy services", where you would "lend" your PC to DDOS a website/server when you are not using it. This is, of course, illegal and can only be found on the dark web.
Also, sending prompt to nearly any online AI tool requires subscription for limited daily/monthly use. Option B will most likely fail, since DDOSing those would not only require even more PCs working together to have any effect, but also, require insane preparation in order to launch the DDOS attack.

In option B the goal would certainly not be applying service-breaking pressure on their server resources, but constant pressure on their electricity bills. But you're right. The impact is probably negligible, even if millions of people set up a background task that has an endless conversation with multiple free cloud-hosted chat bots.

cute of you to think that an individual could "make the bubble pop faster"

I guess I need to make clear that I was not talking about one single person resorting to that, but everyone who is fed up with AI, for as long as those slop companies exists. And before you start assuming things again: It was purely hypothetical and not even meant seriously. I'd not want to increase the planet's already ridiculous power consumption just so that OpenAI bites the dust a few weeks quicker.

 

[ChibiMofo]

What a disasterous (non) launch! Most of it not their fault, but making a (mostly) non-upgradeable PC clone that isn't a console, isn't a PC and costs more than the latter, and is less powerful than the former seems like a really daft idea from the beginning.

And it was. We'll see if the Steam Machine ever actually ships...

Oh, and like every other human on the planet, I will be using AI more and more with each passing day and it will continue to improve each day as it has for years getting better just like videogames did when we went from 8 bit graphics to 16 or to polygons, etc., and for the same reason. Tech always gets better. Trying to dis inanimate objects made by some of the top engineers on planet Earth with terms like "slop" is so childish as to make me embarrsassed for the rest of the humans. Some AI is "slop" just like most humans are idiots.

 

[DeadSkullzJr]

Not going to copy and paste what I said a while ago, have a link to my post instead. This is still my guess on the price, although maybe now there's a range, so $1,000-$1,200. Either way, I'm going to call it if it's true lol.

https://gbatemp.net/threads/valve-s...-like-a-pc-not-a-console.677414/post-10772924

 

[Xzi]

Oh, and like every other human on the planet, I will be using AI more and more with each passing day and it will continue to improve each day as it has for years getting better just like videogames did when we went from 8 bit graphics to 16 or to polygons, etc., and for the same reason. Tech always gets better. Trying to dis inanimate objects made by some of the top engineers on planet Earth with terms like "slop" is so childish as to make me embarrsassed for the rest of the humans. Some AI is "slop" just like most humans are idiots.

80% of AI usage is just as a substitute for search engines. You can't justify the massively increased resource usage and cost of electricity/computing to average people simply for that.

 

[Lumince]

What a disasterous (non) launch! Most of it not their fault, but making a (mostly) non-upgradeable PC clone that isn't a console, isn't a PC and costs more than the latter, and is less powerful than the former seems like a really daft idea from the beginning.

And it was. We'll see if the Steam Machine ever actually ships...

Oh, and like every other human on the planet, I will be using AI more and more with each passing day and it will continue to improve each day as it has for years getting better just like videogames did when we went from 8 bit graphics to 16 or to polygons, etc., and for the same reason. Tech always gets better. Trying to dis inanimate objects made by some of the top engineers on planet Earth with terms like "slop" is so childish as to make me embarrsassed for the rest of the humans. Some AI is "slop" just like most humans are idiots.

Sorry to say it but you are apart of the problem. The idea is to STOP feeding into the cash burning doom hole they call AI. Its making people dumb, making shit videos on the internet, and causing more issues than its solving. Most of what AI puts out by people that abuse it is slop. The amount of accounts I've had to block because thats all they put out is insane. This stuff is making everything more expensive and making peoples ability to do research and figure things out on their own almost nonexistent atp....

Post automatically merged: Feb 6, 2026

80% of AI usage is just as a substitute for search engines. You can't justify the massively increased resource usage and cost of electricity/computing to average people simply for that.

The cost of everything is going up so people dont have to search 8 different sites to find an answer! Yay!!! I love not having cheap electricity, water, and tech so I can be lazy!! /j

 

[Noctosphere]

What a disasterous (non) launch! Most of it not their fault, but making a (mostly) non-upgradeable PC clone that isn't a console, isn't a PC and costs more than the latter, and is less powerful than the former seems like a really daft idea from the beginning.

And it was. We'll see if the Steam Machine ever actually ships...

Oh, and like every other human on the planet, I will be using AI more and more with each passing day and it will continue to improve each day as it has for years getting better just like videogames did when we went from 8 bit graphics to 16 or to polygons, etc., and for the same reason. Tech always gets better. Trying to dis inanimate objects made by some of the top engineers on planet Earth with terms like "slop" is so childish as to make me embarrsassed for the rest of the humans. Some AI is "slop" just like most humans are idiots.

For actual gamers, those who already have an actual gaming PC with good component, the Steam Machine is most likely useless. For those who already have a good PC rig and still want one, I already know what it will be used for A classy emulation machine. The Gabecube, the ultimate emulation home console for your living room or your gaming dungeon
Otherwise, it would only be good for those who don't have a gaming PC, or for those who have a quite outdated PC. However, with the insane component price, we might not see an affordable version for them.

 

[Arecaidian Fox]

The controller is the one thing they should just go ahead and launch ASAP, no need for RAM or a GPU in that. Maybe they had a specific date in mind to coincide with the launch of some software, though.

From the outside looking in anyway, I feel it's the least likely out of all three products to be choked by the worst component shortages. It would be neat if Valve just went ahead and launched at least the controller as originally scheduled, but I'm certainly not going to bet on it

 

[YoureALoser]

Can barely run modern AAA games at 30+ fps even with fsr ultra performance upscaling. Will rely heavily on frame interpolation too.

 

[Chellarina]

I'm glad they're being open about it. Though I also mainly want the controller, I understand that they would want to bundle the releases. Otherwise the USP is much less obvious and they lose momentum.

I also think it is wise of them to wait until they can hit an acceptable price point because whether you already have a gaming PC or a Steam Deck, I'm sure most people see the Steam Machine as a secondary device that improves the sitting room experience rather than a primary one.

Also, anyone defending the AI industry as a whole needs to check their brain for worms. The billionaire CEOs are quite capable of fending for themselves. They don't need your buy in. If more than 1% of these resources was actually being used for science and the betterment of humanity rather than the ensh*tification of it, that would be a different story. As things stand, it is mostly used as a profitable vehicle for legal theft.

 

[DragonMals]

the amount of stuff that the RAM, SSD, and eventually GPU shortage is doing to avid gamers like I am is absolutely ridiculous, and it's all for the advancement of AI technologies.

I remember 1TB SSDs being around 70 dollars. and now they've borderline quadrupled in price now.

 

[solitaire4eva]

I'm out of the loop caused I thought that was a picture of "XBOX Series X - Slim"

 

[BlackZero500]

Well there goes my hope the Frames would cost less than 1k.

 

[lordelan]

Sucks, I was really looking forward to both the Machine and the Controller.
But if it means better testing and/or a more polished product at the end, when prices stabilize for the components, I'm all up for it.
Just hope the Deck can hold for a little longer while the Machine comes lol

Agree. That Valve announcement last year made me go all in on Steam again and stepping a big step away from the Switch 2. I'll keep using it for first party games obviously (DK Bananza was great!) but apart from that, my wallet is on fire on every Steam sale, already with the Steam Machine and Steam Frame in mind. The amount of VR games in my library went from 0 to 12 within the last three months lol.

Knowing that it'll probably be pricier than expected is a bummer but I still aim to get it (the Machine) and later also the Frame.

 

[ShadowOne333]

Agree. That Valve announcement last year made me go all in on Steam again and stepping a big step away from the Switch 2. I'll keep using it for first party games obviously (DK Bananza was great!) but apart from that, my wallet is on fire on every Steam sale, already with the Steam Machine and Steam Frame in mind. The amount of VR games in my library went from 0 to 12 within the last three months lol.

Knowing that it'll probably be pricier than expected is a bummer but I still aim to get it (the Machine) and later also the Frame.

Yeah the price is the one thing that might make me wait a bit to purchase it.
If it goes above 600-700 dlls, it will be hard for me to pick it up, as I'm currently going through some economic lows, sadly.
I do hope it's within that price range tho, if not then I'll wait some months or up to a year, depending on how my Deck behaves until then.

 

[poughstings]

Probably would've been a bad deal even pre-rampocalypse. It's made for no one.

 

[Bladexdsl]

i was hoping to get this to replace my shield tv pro for emulation (and kodi?) but that fucking price..

 

[tech3475]

i was hoping to get this to replace my shield tv pro for emulation (and kodi?) but that fucking price..

How far? You may be able to get away with a much cheaper second hand thin client or something.

 

[donaldgx]

Anything higher than 700 is doa. Timing couldn't be more of a b... Shame, was really looking forward to grabbing one. Highly doubt they will sell the thing at a loss if components remain this pricy.

 

[RHOPKINS13]

That's a bummer... I was hoping for Q1 2026... I'm really just interested in the Frame. Now I'm wondering whether they'll actually release it by Christmas...

 

[chrisrlink]

goof thing i jumped off the steam train (though should have waited for the eventual switch 2 price increase to turn mine in) going to go with an older lenovo pc and hope the AI bubble burst for prices to revert or even better tank