* Valve Steam Machine *

Timber · 2026-02-04T07:29:38+0000

lovelyhead said:
If the new Xbox is launching next year, which will be considerably more powerful than the Steam Machine, that has to exert some pressure on Valve to price it lower. I don't expect the new Xbox to be cheap but many people are talking about $1000 Steam Machines.

I suspect it's probably the other way around, if the Steam Machine is $1k, the new Xbox Magnus will be $1,500, or something. Microsoft will probably have expectations to shift in larger volumes, however I suspect the economies of scale is really this new AMD APU being used in lots of new first-party and OEM machines, as per those rumours first appearing over two years ago.

Grim5 · 2026-02-04T07:39:23+0000

lovelyhead said:
If the new Xbox is launching next year, which will be considerably more powerful than the Steam Machine, that has to exert some pressure on Valve to price it lower. I don't expect the new Xbox to be cheap but many people are talking about $1000 Steam Machines.

Next gen Xbox gonna be $1000 too

Well there will be two Xboxes, a lower end version probably $500 and then the $1000 version

Raymond Lin · 2026-02-04T10:17:13+0000

Unless the next gen Xbox can somehow run native windows games without all that bloat and drivers update or complications...I would still go for a Steam Machine.

xaldub · 2026-02-04T10:43:30+0000

Raymond Lin said:
Unless the next gen Xbox can somehow run native windows games without all that bloat and drivers update or complications...I would still go for a Steam Machine.

Same. I have no desire for a "console" built on Windows. I'll take Steam OS over that any day of the week.

Raymond Lin · 2026-02-04T11:27:52+0000

xaldub said:
Same. I have no desire for a "console" built on Windows. I'll take Steam OS over that any day of the week.

Valve really have got me, I have been an "have all the consoles in a generation" kind of person, so when it comes to the software side, I can then get the best version. I consider spending that £300-400 over the course of like 8 years to be justify in order to have that choice.

With the direction the industry is heading in terms of everything is going more PC in both architecture and also ecosystem, plus the sharp price rise, like double now it seems for the next gen. I need to drop 1 of the pillars and it looks like it is going to have to be Xbox.

I keep my Playstation mostly because I have a PSN account with like 15 years of PSN games in my library so having access to those is a value to me, but now if I buy a game, I look at Steam first before looking at physical on PS5.

(Nintendo is an outlier)

So since getting the Steam Deck, it is where i get my games now. Cheap older games.

Timber · 2026-02-04T11:51:24+0000

Raymond Lin said:
...

So since getting the Steam Deck, it is where i get my games now. Cheap older games.

Very similar (I think I've said this before) PC, Nintendo & PlayStation only now. I would also go all-in on PC, but some of the major issues; cheaters, anti-cheat/DRM kernal-level programs, massive rises in price of components, Windows etc. all put me off ditching PlayStation for now. I love the Steam Deck too and although I don't have a need for the Steam Machine right now, I could see me buying one at some point.

Raymond Lin · 2026-02-04T11:57:32+0000

Not to mention there are more games that works on the Mac, even baldurs gate 3 runs on my M4 Mac mini.

megalomanic · 2026-02-05T04:08:56+0000

Delay on release date and price announcement

https://steamcommunity.com/groups/steam_hardware/announcements/detail/625565405086220584

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.

Martini1991 · 2026-02-05T06:47:52+0000

AMD said valve were on track for early 2026 launch like literally yesterday/day before.
So don't think they can be trusted about next gen either on timeline.

Industry's cooked

lovelyhead · 2026-02-05T06:57:55+0000

lovelyhead said:
If they delay it until memory prices improve that would be at least a year long delay. It will go from 6 year old hardware to at least 7 year old hardware with a new PS6 and a new Xbox console even closer to release. I don't think they will delay it.

lovelyhead said:
So it would be pretty unprecedented if Valve cancelled the launch. They could delay it but I don't think that would be beneficial to Valve.

My comments didn't age well!

So Valve have delayed the launch until who knows when and are now saying that they always planned to launch it in the first half of the year. Although technically early 2026 is within the first half of the year, that isn't really what their early 2026 implied.

This is such a strange situation. Has Valve not got contracts in place to purchase RAM and storage at a certain price? They must have. Maybe the companies that they have the contracts with have decided that it is more profitable to break the contract, suck up the lawsuit and sell that same RAM to the AI companies. Pure speculation.

Their update also implied that they still haven't made their mind up about the price. Do Valve seriously think things will be any different by the Summer in regards to the price of memory? The AI bubble will burst eventually but not within 5 months.

I think the Steam Machine is possibly DOA now. All the signs point to it being uncomfortably expensive which will mean reviewers (and potential customers) won't be able to ignore the price to performance comparison to the consoles.

Very disappointing.

Grim5 · 2026-02-05T07:01:35+0000

Martini1991 said:
AMD said valve were on track for early 2026 launch like literally yesterday/day before.
So don't think they can be trusted about next gen either on timeline.

Industry's cooked

So here is the thing, AMD doesn't know when Valve or Microsoft will actually launch products because AMD doesn't build the final product, they just supply some chips, so likely the timeline AMD gives you is for when AMD is able to supply chips in mass production quantities, but that doesn't mean the product will launch at that date, it's still up to Valve/MS/Sony when they want to launch their Products.

So when Lisa says we're on track for a Microsoft next gen launch in 2027, Lisa just means we will be able to supply the SoC in 2027, doesn't mean the console will launch in 2027

Timber · 2026-02-05T07:17:53+0000

Grim5 said:
So when Lisa says we're on track for a Microsoft next gen launch in 2027, Lisa just means we will be able to supply the SoC in 2027, doesn't mean the console will launch in 2027

Yes, support doesn't mean these two machines will definitely meet their release dates. In early 2020 AMD released similar statements about supporting both Sony and Microsoft with next-gen console releases before the end of the year although both those products had been formally announced at the time.

Although it seems a bit unfortunate for the above Valve statement so quickly off the back of the AMD press release.

Martini1991 · 2026-02-05T07:19:09+0000

There's an opportunity for valve to do a barebones SKU which would help set expectations, I've got 16GB ddr5 soddim doing nothing and the odd drive, I'm probably not unique in that for people who would consider it

Distracted · 2026-02-05T07:21:22+0000

Martini1991 said:
There's an opportunity for valve to do a barebones SKU which would help set expectations, I've got 16GB ddr5 soddim doing nothing and the odd drive, I'm probably not unique in that for people who would consider it

Imagine if they made it barebones and compatible with both ddr4 and ddr5.

Kenai · 2026-02-05T07:22:53+0000

Imagine if they just released a case and you could use whatever hardware and OS you wanted

Timber · 2026-02-05T07:25:37+0000

Martini1991 said:
There's an opportunity for valve to do a barebones SKU which would help set expectations, I've got 16GB ddr5 soddim doing nothing and the odd drive, I'm probably not unique in that for people who would consider it

The only issue with this is that in the tear down videos the RAM wasn't in as easy a place to get to as the NVMe drives - generally they didn't show journalists from what I remember. So whilst I imagine it's possible it would probably create headaches if it isn't super easy to add the sticks.

Mesai · 2026-02-05T07:50:01+0000

Feels like the SM might be DOA. There will be an audience for it; the product itself is a good idea, but the price is going to be a big factor especially when the hardware itself is not that powerful.

Might be helped be the fact that PC hardware in general has gotten more expensive, but people’s salaries haven’t gone up proportionately.

Timber · 2026-02-05T08:16:50+0000

I think the interesting bit of this is they did also delay the Steam Controller. I can't think that's going to be under as intense pricing pressure, so that might be also be a sign this is intending to be a small delay than something more major, but we shall see I suppose.

Vestas · 2026-02-05T12:20:41+0000

Timber said:
I think the interesting bit of this is they did also delay the Steam Controller. I can't think that's going to be under as intense pricing pressure, so that might be also be a sign this is intending to be a small delay than something more major, but we shall see I suppose.

What's the point in producing them if there's no Steam Machine? Most of the last "Steam Controller" stock ended up in landfill.

Timber · 2026-02-05T13:56:20+0000

Vestas said:
What's the point in producing them if there's no Steam Machine? Most of the last "Steam Controller" stock ended up in landfill.

I believe it was very successful for Valve; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Controller

Also have to remember it really was a radical controller (I have one still and I don't like it) in that the track pads don't work as well as the Steam Deck. It massively informed them on how to get things so right which they did with the Steam Deck controls. The new controller will be a bit expensive but I can easily imagine they'll shift loads. It also can work across all the difference Steam users whether they be on Mac OS, Windows, Steam Decks etc.

I feel if it was a longer delay Valve would let the controller loose and start shifting inventory.

*** Valve Steam Machine ***

* Valve Steam Machine *