About ten years after the short-lived release of the original Steam engine since Valve, the company has decided to dip its toes back into the world of home consoles. With the recent announcement of the next-gen Steam Machine, there has been much discussion around the industry about the console's potential performance and price, and whether it has enough appeal to prompt PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo players to make the switch.
So the question is, can it really hold its own in the competitive home console space and get gamers to switch to a new console? We wanted to know what our readers thought, so we asked if they would buy a Steam Machine themselves.
We asked our readers: Will you be buying a steam engine?
With the dust now settling on the announcement, we now have a little better insight into what to expect from the Steam Machine. For starters, it was revealed that potential buyers can expect the console to be priced “more PC-like” and that the gaming system will be more accessible to a larger number of gamers.
Not only that, but details have been shared about the console's power specs, which are said to be an improvement for over 70% of PC users on Steam. With all of this new information in hand, we decided to ask the Game Rant community for their thoughts on the upcoming console release and if they care in any way. They had to say this.
Will you be buying a Steam Machine next year?
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Yes, day one – 19% / 198 votes
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Yes, but after the price drop — 23% / 241 votes
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No, I'm happy with my current hardware – 58% / 625 votes
While it's still some time before anyone gets their hands on a Steam Machine, our Ranters certainly aren't particularly excited about Valve's next console. It's true that nearly half said they would buy one, but most of that audience isn't eager enough to pick it up after launch. Meanwhile, the most popular answer with more than 58% of the votes suggests that Ranters will not put their hands in their wallets.
This may have been partly due to the poor performance of the first Steam Machine, which was shelved after three years, or a reluctance to stray too far from the familiar. Time will tell if the Steam Machine can become a real player in the console market, but gamers will need a little more convincing before jumping into the game.
- Mark
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Valve
- Operating system
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SteamOS 3 (based on the architecture)
- Processor
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Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8GHz, 30W TDP
- Resolution
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Up to 4K @ 240 Hz or 8K @ 60 Hz
- HDR support
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Yes
- Original release date
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2026
