Almost 12 years after the gaming industry’s most resounding flop, Valve is trying its luck again in the home console market. And the company is doing so with the same name it used over a decade ago: the Steam Machine. For months, it’s been a rumor, a more or less serious leak. Now it’s a reality, and this time Valve has its chances. When in 2013 Valve presented mini PCs, designed and marketed by brands (Alienware, Asus…) and running on a Linux-based OS, the company thought that publishers would follow it in its ambition to revolutionize gaming…In vain. But today, Valve no longer relies on the goodwill of developers to ensure its success. For the past ten years, the company has been laying the foundations of an ecosystem designed to make a huge part of the PC games catalog immediately compatible from launch. It has demonstrated this with its Steam Deck, whose ergonomics regularly slap Windows-based solutions in the face. With the Steam Deck, as with the future Steam Machine, everything is controlled by joystick and controller buttons. This is what the “real” consoles on the market already offer, but what Windows PCs have not yet managed to do, and which is causing problems for Microsoft.
Steam machine: what we know.
The Steam Machine will be released in 2026, but Valve has yet to announce a precise date… or a price, for that matter. Its technical specifications are similar to those of the latest version of the PS5. Aesthetically, it’s sober and discreet, yet customizable.
Its almost cubic chassis, with dimensions of 15.2 x 16.2 x 15.6 cm, avoids the heating and battery management constraints of a portable console. As a result, it delivers up to six times more power than the Steam Deck, thanks to a 6-core AMD Zen 4 processor capable of reaching 4.8 GHz, for a thermal envelope of 30 W. On the graphics side, we find an AMD chip based on RDNA 3 architecture, featuring 28 “partially customized” computing units, with a TDP of 110 W.
The processor is backed by 16GB of DDR5 memory, while 8GB of GDDR6 are reserved for graphics. The device features Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. For the display, it can drive a screen up to 4K/240 Hz (or 8K/60 Hz) via DisplayPort, and a 4K/120 Hz monitor via HDMI. Connectivity includes two USB-A ports on the front, two more on the rear, a USB-C port and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Two storage configurations are provided: a 512 GB version and a 2 TB model. In both cases, a microSD card reader is available to extend capacity. It will not, as yet, be delivered with a controller, but it is compatible with the majority of controllers on the market.
Nevertheless, Valve is unveiling a Steam Controller featuring two Steam Deck-style touchpads, two analog sticks and a full set of buttons, with the added bonus of four paddles on the rear. The controller can operate via Bluetooth, but the most important thing is the 2.4 GHz radio link via a small puck supplied, to minimize latency.
What are the chances of this Steam Machine?
On paper, Valve is starting out with more certainty. Firstly, the Steam Deck is a success, and secondly, Valve has changed in over 10 years. What began as a simple, recognized game developer is now first and foremost a true gaming ecosystem. Steam offers over 100,000 titles from virtually every publisher, a huge library ranging from blockbusters to indie games, giving users access to affordable prices thanks to almost permanent promotions.
But above all, while the failure of 2013 was strongly linked to SteamOS, the company never stopped believing in its operating system built on a Linux base. It gradually abandoned the idea of convincing studios to produce games specifically for Linux and focused instead on solutions for running Windows titles on Linux, long before launching any devices at all. It invested heavily in Proton, a compatibility layer based on Wine, as well as in tools capable of translating Microsoft’s various graphics APIs. All in all, the catalog is rich and SteamOS is making Microsoft sweat.
Success not guaranteed
There are still a number of sensitive points to be addressed if the launch is to be a success. First of all, the timing isn’t right, and rising prices for Ram and SSD components will no doubt complicate Valve’s business. Let’s not forget that the PS5 and Xbox are consoles “subsidized” by Sony and Microsoft, who are also publishers… At this point Valve has not communicated an official launch date, but it will be in 2026. In the meantime, Microsoft is not going to give up and has started to (slowly) move its pawns forward. With the overhaul of Windows and the increasingly assertive fusion of console and PC, the future looks very interesting. But with Steam decks, Steam Machines and gamers increasingly switching to PCs, a two-speed gaming world is also taking shape. Microsoft is aiming for the top end of the market, with its powerful hardware, and for more mainstream solutions that allow gamers to play in decent conditions without having access to the latest technologies. The next few months are going to be interesting…