Valve teased the upcoming additions to its hardware line-up towards the end of 2025, and we’ve been eagerly waiting for more details ever since.
Alongside the Steam Frame and Steam Controller, the Steam Machine has particularly caught our attention as it promises to offer six times the power of the brilliant Steam Deck. However, while Valve has revealed some of the features, there’s a few pretty important facts still at large.
Ahead of the official reveal, we’ve rounded up four of the key things that we’re desperate to know about the upcoming Steam Machine.
We’ve also been sure to update our Steam Machine rumours hub whenever a new leak drops, so make sure to check that out. Otherwise, visit our round up of the best game consoles and best gaming laptops to see our current favourites.
Release Date
Valve is keeping the Steam Machine’s exact release date close to its chest. Other than “early 2026”, we don’t have any firm information on when we can expect to get our hands on the Steam Machine.
Considering we’re officially in early 2026 territory, we think it’s perfectly reasonable to expect that the Steam Machine should launch in the coming weeks or, at a push, the next couple of months.
As we’re currently left in the dark, we could look at the Steam Deck’s launch as somewhat of a guide. Much like the Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller, the Steam Deck was originally announced towards the end of 2021 and officially launched in February 2022.
With this in mind, could Valve be planning a similar launch strategy for the Steam Machine? Frustratingly, we’ll simply have to wait and see.
Market availability
Valve also hasn’t revealed the markets where we can expect to buy the Steam Machine. Other than a recent leak that shows the PC is expected to launch in Czechia, as the product listing was found via a Czech retailer’s website, we don’t know for sure which countries the Steam Machine can be bought in.
Sure, based on the Czech retailer we can reasonably expect a larger European roll-out but what about the US? Will the tariffs cause a delayed US rollout?
Price
Although the hardware specs undoubtedly sound intriguing, it’s difficult to allow ourselves to get too excited without knowing how much the Steam Machine will set us back. The aforementioned Czech retailer’s accidental listing showed the price hidden in the website’s code and started at 19,826 CZK for the smaller 512GB model and rose to 22,305 CZK for 2TB. This roughly equates to around $950 / $1070 respectively, although we’d take those prices with a pinch of salt, as converting currencies isn’t always an accurate practice.
Elsewhere, the rumoured price for the Steam Machine ranges wildly, with some “sources” claiming it’ll cost just $400 without others claiming at least $1000.
The reason for Valve’s reluctance to provide a price is understandable. Given that RAM prices don’t seem to be settling any time soon, Valve could still be working out the best pricing strategy to cover itself.
Game compatibility
We should disclaim that Valve has promised that the Steam Machine should have the power to play your whole Steam library. In fact as reported by Eurogamer, Valve hopes that the Steam Machine will support “any game with modern ray tracing at 4K resolution and 60 frames per second”.
However, Valve has also disclaimed that game compatibility will likely not be perfect at launch. The Independent stated that this will be particularly prevalent with multiplayer games that rely on anti-cheat software – much like the Steam Deck. Although Valve has tried to ensure more games are playable on SteamOS, thanks to Proton which makes it possible to play many Windows games on Steam, there are still some gaps.
Hopefully the Steam Machine will close those gaps, but we’ll just have to wait and see. Even with this in mind, you shouldn’t be too concerned about game compatibility with the Steam Machine.
