Steam Machine Still On Track For 2026, But There's A Worrying Update

It looks like the Steam Machine is still on track for a release in 2026, but there’s been a worrying update regarding exact timings.

When the Steam Machine was revealed last year along with the Steam Frame and new Steam Controller, Valve said it expected to release the new hardware in “early 2026”.

This was later changed to “first half of 2026” following the impact of the global RAM crisis, which has seen the price of computer hardware like memory, storage, and graphics cards shoot up as a result of low stock.

Now, Valve has reiterated that it plans to launch the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and new Steam Controller “this year”, but hasn’t detailed a more specific window.

This information comes in a new Steamworks Year In Review blog post, where Valve writes “we shared recently that there have been challenges with memory and storage shortages, but we will be shipping all three products this year. More updates will be shared as we finalize our plans.”

This now means that Valve’s new hardware has gone from a more specific “early 2026” release window, to a now more vague “this year” timeline.

Steam Machine, Valve

Is Valve Going To Release The Steam Machine This Year?

It’s possible that the company is holding out for some semblance of a drop in price so it can start manufacturing for consumers, possibly releasing the Steam Machine and Steam Frame in waves to combat stock shortages like it did with the Steam Deck.

If you remember back to then, it was very difficult to get a Steam Deck in 2022. You had to pay a small fee just to reserve an order, and then would get the ability to order a Steam Deck for full price further down the line.

But still, I’m hoping Valve is able to get this thing out the door. The Steam Machine is a neat piece of kit that should hopefully lessen the headaches of getting started with PC gaming, and the Steam Frame is essentially something that VR fans have been requesting for years.

Either way, I want to get my hands on that controller. I was an early adopter of 2015 Steam Controller, and it was my go-to gamepad for years until I switched to 8BitDo.

This new iteration appears to fix all the issues I had with it though, so it should be an excellent addition to my growing line-up of PC game controllers.