Steam Machine release date speculation, specs and latest news

Recently, Valve announced a slew of new hardware, including a revival of an ill-fated PC-console hybrid, and as such, we’ll be going over everything we know about the upcoming Steam Machine, from release date speculation, specs and the latest news.

We’ll also touch on just how the Steam machine fits into the PC and console narrative, but those who already have a Steam Deck will know the score here.

In a separate article, we took a look at how much the Steam Machine could cost, something that has become even more contentious due to the increasing price of RAM – more on that later.

But without further ado, let’s steam on for all things Steam machine!

When is the Steam Machine release date?

Valve stated that it hopes to release the Steam Machine in “early 2026”.

That is a fairly vague period of time, but reasonably, we can assume that to mean up to April 2026 or so.

The release date could be hampered by the ongoing RAM crisis due to AI datacentres hoovering up DRAM and NAND modules, used in system memory chips and SSDs, causing these components to skyrocket in price.

With business booming for manufacturers of these chips, some, such as Micron, are pulling out of the consumer market to instead focus on selling directly to enterprise.

All said, Valve, which has gone on the record to say that it wants to be competitively priced with entry-level PCs, may have pause for thought as it reevaluates market conditions.

Will it weather the storm, or ride it out and fall back on Steam revenue to absorb the costs?

As soon as we know more, we will update you as soon as possible!

Can I pre-order the Steam Machine?

No, you cannot pre-order the Steam machine at this time.

You can wishlist it on Steam, so that you are notified the moment it becomes available for purchase.

There is also no word on whether Valve will employ a reservation system, as it did for the Steam Deck when it was first announced.

This placed prospective buyers in a queue after paying a small deposit, and when it became available for purchase, you had a window of time to put up the rest of the money.

Valve is no stranger to hardware launches now, however, so Valve could be manufacturing a large enough volume for a general launch.

Is the Steam Machine a PC or console?

The Steam Machine is a PC-hybrid console.

It is essentially the same experience as the Steam Deck, sans the portability and built-in screen, in that SteamOS, a custom version of Arch Linux, has a very console-like interface when you turn it on, but you can switch to a desktop environment.

While it is a bit more fiddly than a traditional console, it is extremely flexible, and opens the door to cheap PC games stretching back decades.

By popping into the desktop, you can install other store launchers, or anything really, as it is just a computer.

However, if you’re happy with just Steam, you can treat it very much like a console, especially seeing as the Steam Machine comes bundled with a controller.

With all that in mind, the Steam machine will be equally happy under a television in your living room, or as a PC on your desk, with mouse and keyboard plugged in.

Steam Machine specs explained

In general, Valve pegs the Steam Machine as having “over six times the horsepower of Steam Deck”. Looking at the spec sheet, the Steam Machine looks to sit between the Xbox Series S and PlayStation 5, in terms of power, but more towards the latter machine.

Unlike a console, though, the Steam Machine does not have unified memory, but instead has 16GB of system memory and 8GB of video memory.

This is an important distinction, because many recent AAA games, especially those using Unreal Engine 5, struggle to run with 8GB of video memory due to the massive size of assets, such as textures, whereas a console, despite having less memory overall, can assign only a few GB to game logic, and use the rest for video memory, if it needs to.

With this in mind, the Steam Machine will be perfectly comfortable playing esports titles such as Counter-Strike 2, but don’t expect a good experience playing something like Black Myth: Wukong with all the settings turned up.

As for those specs, check them out below:

Steam Machine specs

• CPU - Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T, up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
• GPU - Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs, 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP
• RAM - 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
• Power - Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V
• Storage - 512GB or 2TB NVMe SSD (both models include a high-speed microSD card slot)

Does the Steam Machine come with a controller?

Yes, the Steam machine comes with a bundled Steam Controller.

The Steam Controller is essentially the Steam Deck, but without the screen. There are your typical triggers, bumper buttons, D-pad, analogue sticks and ABXY buttons, but there are also four back-facing buttons and dual trackpads.

The controller also has a gyroscope, meaning you can get mouse-like accuracy without the use of the trackpads.

Said trackpads make more PC centric games, such as strategy games, more readily playable in a living room setting, without the need for a mouse and keyboard.

The trackpads can also be used to create additional shortcuts, akin to a weapon wheel in a game.

For those who like the controller but want to play on a system with a bit more oomph, the Steam Controller will be available separately.

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