Valve gives timeline update on when all Steam Machine orders will be fulfilled

Valve has provided an update on when all Steam Machine orders will be fulfilled, giving a timeline on when you can expect to make your order.

The Steam Machine seemed like a great idea when it was first revealed in November 2025, but thanks to AI companies chewing up most of the world’s supply of RAM and other computer hardware, hardware prices have gone up making it a much more difficult platform to develop.

As a result, the demand for the unit has massively outweighed the supply, leading Valve to put prospective Steam Machine customers into a randomised waitlist for orders after the initial reservation queue.

By signing up to the waitlist for one of the four Steam Machine units being sold, customers will be sorted into a randomised queue, eventually gaining a short window of time where you can place an order.

Valve has now provided a timeline for when everyone on the Steam Machine waitlist can expect to be able to make an order, with all potential customers being able to do so by the end of the year.

“We’re fulfilling orders on a daily basis, sending out emails to reservation holders with the option to purchase in the order in which they landed on the list post-randomization. We expect everyone in the reservation queue will have the option to purchase by the end of this year,” Valve writes in a new blog post.

Read More: 13 Classic Games You'll Be Able To Play On Steam Machine (That You Can't On PS5)

Steam Machine hopefuls should expect to order their system "by the end of the year"

Valve adds more context that each reservation queue is per-product and per-region, so processes can move at different speeds based on demand.

What that means for some regions is that Valve has reached the end of the reservation queue in some regions, and is now sorting through customers from the waitlist.

Valve explains that “we unintentionally skipped a step with this group by automatically sending the option-to-order email; moving forward, anyone who comes off the waitlist will first receive a message from us confirming you've been added to the reservation queue and can expect an option-to-purchase email sometime after that.”

This results in no-one on the waitlist “leapfrogging” over anyone currently holding a reservation, as Valve is only dipping into those waitlists when it reaches the end of the reservation queue for that product and region.

Valve then outlines what happens next, saying reservation holders can expect an email offering you the chance to purchase “by the end of the year”.

If you have a spot on one of the waitlists, there’s a chance you’ll be moved into reservations depending on which product you’re listed for, at which point you’ll be emailed about your new reservation status before a follow-up confirming you can order a Steam Machine is sent.

At any rate, if you're getting a little impatient waiting for your Steam Machine order to become available, at least Valve won't have you waiting for too long. Hopefully, the prices don't rise in that time either.