Steam Hardware FAQ revealed as Valve comments on price, release date and shipping

During the announcement of new hardware in the form of the Steam Frame VR headset, Steam Machine and Steam Controller, Valve committed to an “early 2026” launch, but the ongoing memory pricing crisis immediately followed the news, casting doubt on the likelihood that Valve could ever meet this, however, news has emerged that not all hope is lost.

First, AMD announced that not only is Valve on track to support an early 2026 launch, but that Microsoft would also be in a position to release its next-generation console in 2027.

After this, Valve opted to release its own statement in the form of the Steam Hardware: Launch timing and other FAQs page.

In the FAQ, Valve states that it hoped on “being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now”, but the “limited availability and growing prices” of memory have caused them to revisit the “exact shipping schedule and pricing”, particularly that of the Steam Frame and Steam Machine.

It sure seems that those Steam machine price leaks did not hold much water, then, and we still don’t have a good idea of how much the Steam Machine could cost.

Now, “early 2026” was always a bit vague. We at Radio Times Gaming assumed this to mean no later than April, but Valve insists that their “goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed”.

The first half of the year is definitely earlier than the second, but this now means we might not expect to see the new products hit the market until June.

A saving grace is that developers can request development kits for the Steam Frame, which gives them more time to ensure their games are Steam Frame Verified.

In the meantime, we can expect to see a lot more of the new hardware, as Valve plans to publish deep dives in the form of blog posts and videos.

There are other details included in the FAQ, but there is not much else that we did not know, but it is nice to know that Valve is making the CAD files for the Steam Machine faceplate available so that we can design our own or purchase custom ones from the likes of Dbrand, who already teased a rather spiffy-looking Portal Companion Cube enclosure.

As always, once we know more about the exact details concerning the cost of the Steam Hardware and when they will ship, we will update you in due course.

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