As we reported on earlier today, the upcoming Steam Machine is said to still be “on track” for a launch early this year. However, Valve just gave us a deeper update on the exact status of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, along with them directly addressing the current memory and storage shortages facing the technology industry due to the rising demand from AI companies. As we’ll discuss further, we now have confirmation that the current technological landscape has affected the rollout of these devices – but hasn’t changed the launch window.
In an extensive blog post over on their Steam community page, Valve open by explaining their awareness that everyone wants to know more about pricing and release dates. They clarify however that whilst they “planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now”, they are unable to due to “the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry”. They clarify that “the limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing”, in specific reference to both the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame.
It’s again confirmed that the goal to ship Steam Machine, Steam Controller and Steam Frame “in the first half of the year has not changed”, but further planning behind the scenes is required to land on a date (and a price) that can be said with confidence. As the availability and pricing of such critical computing components are fluctuating right now, Valve is likely trying to find the middle ground between where they originally wanted to price their upcoming Steam hardware line and where they might need to pivot towards to make up for lost costs.
They also confirm that the Steam Machine can “play great at 4K 60FPS with FSR” on the “majority” of Steam games they tested the machine on, and manufacturers will be given specs for the Steam Machine’s faceplates to produce their own. Finally, they announced that Steam Machine will have an upgradeable SSD and DDR5 memory. Be sure to check out the full FAQ and blog post for more specifics, and keep your eyes on GameObserver for more breaking gaming news.
