Valve’s Steam Machine has been delayed, and the RAM crisis will impact pricing

When Valve first announced its impressive-looking Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller hardware successful November, the institution said the products would statesman shipping successful early 2026. Some journalists were told “Q1 2026” specifically. But because of the ongoing memory and retention crunch, that motorboat has been delayed to sometime successful the first half of this year, and Valve says it will reset expectations for really overmuch they will costs “as soon arsenic possible.”

“We planned connected being capable to stock circumstantial pricing and motorboat dates by now,” Valve says successful a caller post. “But the representation and retention shortages you’ve apt heard astir crossed the manufacture person quickly accrued since then. The constricted readiness and increasing prices of these captious components mean we must revisit our nonstop shipping schedule and pricing (especially astir Steam Machine and Steam Frame).”

Valve says that its extremity of “shipping each 3 products successful the first half of the twelvemonth has not changed. But we person activity to do to onshore connected actual pricing and motorboat dates that we tin confidently announce, being mindful of really quickly the circumstances astir some of those things tin change.”

When The Verge and different outlets met pinch Valve to preview the caller hardware, the institution remained mostly vague astir pricing astatine the clip — 1 of the astir important questions if these devices would compete pinch crippled consoles alternatively than PCs. From the beginning, Valve told america the Steam Machine, its eager caller console, would beryllium “positioned person to the introduction level of the PC space.” For the Frame, the institution said it was aiming for a value that was little than its erstwhile headset, the Index, which costs $999. And for the Steam Controller, Valve said it was targeting a value that would beryllium competitory pinch different controllers pinch “advanced inputs.”

But wrong days of Valve’s hardware announcements past November, it became clear that Valve would person a reliable clip offering competitory pricing pinch the costs of RAM shooting up. It told Tom’s Hardware that the console was reliable to value because “the marketplace is benignant of weird” and “memory prices are going up for illustration correct arsenic we speak.” As of early 2026, PC gamers person seen the value of RAM triple, moreover quadruple, arsenic memory makers move their supply into the much profitable AI server realm.

Yesterday, AMD CEO Lisa Su said connected an net call that “From a merchandise standpoint, Valve is connected way to statesman shipping its AMD-powered Steam Machine early this year.” It seems that the words “from a merchandise standpoint” were carrying a batch much weight than we thought.