It’s dead… – Valve launches its Steam Machine

The Steam Machine has launched – May it rest in peace

When Valve unveiled its Steam Machine, I was excited. Valve was building a compact gaming PC that aimed to be compact, moderately powerful, and bring the Steam Deck’s excellent SteamOS gaming experience to desktop. Now that the Steam Machine has arrived, I’m disappointed, not in Valve, but in the state of the world right now.

Valve’s Steam Machine has modest specifications and should have been fairly affordable. Thanks to AI superscalers, component prices have shot up, critically damaging the device ahead of its launch. What should have been an affordable and compact gaming PC has turned into an expensive luxury device. With a baseline price of $1,049/£879, this is a very expensive device. So much so that many buyers would be better off building their own Steam Machines.

Reservations

Starting today, Steam users can join Valve’s reservation list for their Steam Machine. On June 25th, those who have signed up will be placed into a list. This list will be randomised, and users will be told their place on the list soon after. Valve expects to sell out its initial stock of Steam Machines quickly, which means some people will have to wait a long time to get one.

Pricing

The Steam Machine will be available in 512GB and 2TB capacities, and each version will be available with or without a Steam Controller. The 2TB versions of the Steam Machine will have two extra face plates, a red fabric plate and a solid walnut plate in addition to the device’s standard plate.

The 512GB and 2TB versions of the Steam Machine will cost £879 and £1149 respectively. With a bundled Steam Controller, the device will cost £938 and £1208 respectively. If you get good deals on your hardware, you should be able to build a PC with similar or better specifications for the same price.

Steam Machine is launching in four different options that you can sign up for beginning today:

• Steam Machine 512GB: $1,049 USD /  1,509 CAD /  1,039 EUR /  879 GBP / 1,609 AUD /  4,389 PLN  

  • Bundle: Steam Machine 512GB + Steam Controller: $1,128 USD / 1,628 CAD / 1,108 EUR / 938 GBP / 1,728 AUD / 4,698 PLN

• Steam Machine 2TB: $1,349 USD / 1,919 CAD /  1,359 EUR /  1,149 GBP /  2,109 AUD /  5,739 PLN

  • Bundle: Steam Machine 2TB + Steam Controller: $1,428 USD / 2,038 CAD / 1,428 EUR / 1,208 GBP / 2,228 AUD / 6,048 PLN

  • Both the Steam Machine 2TB and 2TB bundle options come with two additional faceplates: red fabric, and solid walnut.

All prices are inclusive of VAT where applicable.

We have details on how to sign up for a chance to reserve yours below. Since this has proven to be a weird time to launch hardware, we thought this would be a good opportunity to share more about how we got here.

AI killed the Steam Machine

Let’s face it, the AI industry killed the Steam Machine. Shortly after Valve’s reveal of the system, memory and storage prices skyrocketed. This made it impossible for Valve to build its Steam Machine at a reasonable price. Since this time last year, the price of a basic DDR5 kit has increased by over 4x. If anyone is to be blamed for the Steam Machine’s high price, it’s the leaders of the AI industry and the greed-fueled spending behind it.

I’ll be honest, Valve has made a solid device here. This is a compact PC with reasonable specifications. That said, its launch pricing has made the device unappealing to anyone who is concerned about value for money. As a Linux PC, the Steam Machine is infinitely more versatile than any console. Regardless, it’s a well-made piece of hardware that I simply can’t get excited about.

Unless DRAM prices and storage prices suddenly collapse, I don’t expect the price of Valve’s Steam Machine to decrease. Until that happens, don’t expect me to get excited about this device. That said, what Valve has here is a solid foundation to build on. The Steam Machine is a victim of bad timing; it’s not a bad product. It’s sad, but that’s the current state of the world. Hopefully, the situation will improve sooner than expected.

You can join the discussion on Valve’s Steam Machine on the OC3D Forums.