Valve Explains Why the Steam Machine Is Taking So Long

Valve has confirmed that it hasn’t released the Steam Machine yet because of memory cost and availability concerns. The company first announced its upcoming PC-console hybrid in late 2025, but since then, it has yet to nail down a specific release date or price. While these details remain a mystery for now, Valve has finally commented on the long period of silence following the reveal of the Steam Machine, reassuring fans that this isn’t what the manufacturer wanted, either.

As gamers wait for more information on the console itself, Valve has released some hardware in the meantime. The Steam Controller is now officially out with a price tag of $99, and thankfully, it will work on a variety of systems, so users don’t need to wait on the Steam Machine to try it out. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean Valve’s other promised piece of hardware is right behind it, as there are still larger issues holding the rest of the lineup back.

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Valve Is Taking Its Time to Ensure the Steam Deck is “as Good and Competitive a Price” as Possible

In a conversation with PC Gamer, Valve engineer Steve Cardinali and designer Lawrence Yang commented on the frustrating but largely inevitable circumstances affecting the Steam Deck’s release. While the company has previously said progress on the Steam Machine is going well, it’s still facing uncertainty over its release and price, thanks to the ongoing RAM crisis. Yang mentioned that global memory shortages and price hikes “will impact basically anything we make,” but that the team is trying to make sure the Steam Machine is “still available at as good and competitive a price as we can.” That comment makes it seem that, on top of constraining Valve’s supply of parts, the RAM situation may have pushed the company to reconsider its pricing to balance higher expenses with a price point that consumers will still go for.

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The confirmation that RAM shortages are the main driver behind the delay is unsurprising. It’s reported that RAM prices could delay the next-gen Xbox and PS6, too, to keep prices relatively affordable. While Valve has confirmed the Steam Machine will carry a premium price tag, it likely doesn’t want things to be so extreme that it turns away would-be buyers. It doesn’t help that this situation arose as quickly as it did, with Cardinali lamenting that the challenge hit Valve “last minute.”

Price isn’t the only concern at play. Yang mentioned how part of any product release is making sure the company has “enough stock in warehouses to have a good launch quantity.” Cardinali added that Valve expects demand to be high, suggesting the extended wait for the Steam Machine could also be a matter of the memory shortage making it harder to manufacture enough consoles at launch to prevent stock-outs. Notably, the Steam Deck has been selling out across the globe lately due to similar circumstances, so Valve may not want to release the Steam Machine until it’s certain it can avoid a similar fate.

Neither Cardinali nor Yang gave any indication as to when Valve expects to find answers to these challenges. Still, Valve has maintained that the Steam Machine is still on track for a 2026 release, as is the Steam Frame, so it does not sound like it will be too much longer. That leaves a good deal of wiggle room, but it will at least be less than a year before the Steam Machine is in gamers’ hands, should things go according to plan from here on out.