Valve, the company behind the immensely popular Steam platform and the handheld Steam Deck, has officially confirmed a delay for its eagerly awaited Steam Machine gaming console. The announcement, made in early February 2026, comes after weeks of mounting speculation and growing concern among fans and industry watchers. Valve’s new hardware lineup—which also includes the Steam Frame VR headset and an updated Steam Controller—was first revealed in November 2025, with initial plans pointing to an early 2026 release. Now, the company has pushed back the timeline, citing global shortages of memory and storage components as the main culprit.
According to Valve’s updated statement on Steam and its hardware FAQ, the company originally intended to announce concrete pricing and launch dates for all three products by now. However, as Valve explained, "the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame)." The company remains adamant that its "goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed," but it declined to offer any specific dates or prices, acknowledging how quickly circumstances can shift in the volatile tech market.
This delay, while disappointing for those hoping to get their hands on Valve’s latest innovations in the coming months, is not entirely unexpected. The global memory shortage has been wreaking havoc across industries, from mobile phones and laptops to gaming devices. As reported by Mashable, prices for RAM and SSDs have soared, driven in part by the insatiable demand from AI data centers that are buying up vast quantities of memory. This has left manufacturers like Valve scrambling to secure components at reasonable prices, and has forced them to reconsider their product strategies on the fly.
The Steam Machine itself is an ambitious project. Designed as a roughly 6-inch cube, it aims to deliver a simplified PC gaming experience for the living room, bridging the gap between traditional gaming consoles and high-end gaming PCs. Unlike previous attempts at Steam Machines in the mid-2010s—which fizzled due to limited game compatibility and lackluster hardware support—this new iteration is built to be "six times more powerful than the Steam Deck and is able to play your entire Steam library, including AAA and indie titles," according to Mashable. The device is expected to offer features not found on PlayStation 5, Switch 2, or Xbox Series consoles, such as removable faceplates for customization, upgradable storage via microSD or SSD, and even the potential to upgrade RAM (though that process is a bit more involved).
Flexibility is a core selling point. The Steam Machine can function as a Linux desktop when connected to a monitor, mouse, and keyboard, and users will even have the option to install Windows if they prefer—though Valve notes that the experience is smoother on SteamOS. Multiplayer is supported with up to four Steam Controllers connecting seamlessly to the console, and Valve has hinted that its preorder system, when it goes live, will likely require a Steam account to help prevent scalpers from scooping up units en masse—an approach previously used with the Steam Deck.
The pricing question looms large. Valve has been cagey about giving a firm number, and for good reason. When first unveiled, the Steam Machine was expected to land in the $600 to $800 range, making it competitive with gaming PCs of similar performance. But as the global RAM shortage has intensified, speculation has mounted that the final price could climb to $1,000 or more—a tough sell for many, especially when stacked against the lower-cost PlayStation and Xbox consoles. As CNET reported, Valve is "still trying to figure out the price of the Steam Machine," and the company has not ruled out adjusting hardware specifications to help keep costs in check. A note on the hardware page even warns that "some specifications subject to change ahead of availability," suggesting Valve may tweak the machine’s internals if component prices remain high.
Valve’s transparency about the challenges it faces is notable. In a recent blog post, the company stated, "We have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible." This candor is a departure from the tight-lipped approach some tech giants take during turbulent times, and it appears aimed at maintaining trust with Valve’s passionate fan base.
For those eager to preorder, patience will be required. There are no preorders available yet, and Valve has not committed to a specific date for when reservations will open. If history is any guide, the company will likely roll out a system similar to the Steam Deck’s, where customers are assigned a release window based on when they place their order, and only existing Steam account holders are eligible to participate. This approach, while not perfect, helped minimize scalping and ensured a fairer distribution of hardware during the Steam Deck’s launch.
The Steam Machine isn’t the only product affected by the memory crunch. The Steam Frame VR headset—Valve’s answer to the Meta Quest—and the updated Steam Controller are both caught in the same supply chain snarl. While details on the Steam Frame remain sparse, it’s positioned as a next-generation virtual reality device, and anticipation is high among VR enthusiasts. The new Steam Controller, meanwhile, builds on Valve’s previous efforts to create a versatile, PC-friendly gamepad.
Valve’s journey into hardware has been anything but straightforward. The company’s first foray, the original Steam Machines and SteamOS platform, struggled in the marketplace due to limited game compatibility and a fragmented hardware ecosystem. However, the introduction of Proton—a compatibility layer for SteamOS that allows most Windows games to run on Linux—has dramatically improved the situation. Today, more than 20,000 Windows games are supported, making the new Steam Machine a far more attractive proposition for gamers who want the flexibility of a PC with the convenience of a console.
Looking back, Valve’s hardware ambitions have always been about giving gamers more choice. The Steam Link, released in 2015, allowed users to stream PC games directly to their TVs, foreshadowing the living room focus of the Steam Machine. Now, with the latest delay, Valve finds itself at a familiar crossroads: balancing innovation with the harsh realities of global supply chains.
As the company works to finalize pricing and launch details, one thing is clear—Valve’s willingness to adapt and communicate openly may prove just as important as the technical prowess of its new hardware. For now, gamers will have to wait a little longer, but the promise of a powerful, flexible, and truly living room-friendly PC gaming experience is still very much alive.