When Valve first introduced its impressive-looking Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller {hardware} in November, the corporate stated the merchandise would start delivery in early 2026. Some journalists have been informed “Q1 2026” particularly. However due to the continuing memory and storage crunch, that launch has been delayed to someday within the first half of this 12 months, and Valve says it’s going to reset expectations for a way a lot they may price “as quickly as attainable.”
“We deliberate on with the ability to share particular pricing and launch dates by now,” Valve says in a new post. “However the reminiscence and storage shortages you’ve possible heard about throughout the trade have quickly elevated since then. The restricted availability and rising costs of those important parts imply we should revisit our precise delivery schedule and pricing (particularly round Steam Machine and Steam Body).”
Valve says that its objective of “delivery all three merchandise within the first half of the 12 months has not modified. However now we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we will confidently announce, being aware of how rapidly the circumstances round each of these issues can change.”
When The Verge and different retailers met with Valve to preview the brand new {hardware}, the corporate remained largely imprecise about pricing on the time — some of the vital questions being if these devices would compete with game consoles rather than PCs. From the start, Valve informed us the Steam Machine, its formidable new console, could be “positioned nearer to the entry degree of the PC house.” For the Body, the corporate stated it was aiming for a value that was lower than its earlier headset, the Index, which price $999. And for the Steam Controller, Valve stated it was concentrating on a value that might be aggressive with different controllers with “superior inputs.”
However inside days of Valve’s {hardware} bulletins final November, it turned clear that Valve would have a tricky time providing aggressive pricing with the price of RAM taking pictures up. It told Tom’s Hardware that the console was powerful to cost as a result of “the market is sort of bizarre” and “reminiscence costs are going up like proper as we converse.” As of early 2026, PC avid gamers have seen the value of RAM triple, even quadruple, as memory makers pour their supply into the extra worthwhile AI server realm.
Yesterday, AMD CEO Lisa Su said on an earnings call that “From a product standpoint, Valve is on observe to start delivery its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this 12 months.” Evidently the phrases “from a product standpoint” have been carrying much more weight than we thought.