In a somewhat unexpected move, Steam Deck creator Valve has just announced the news Steam enginea home console built on SteamOS. This is the famous gaming company's second jump into the home gaming platform, with the first Steam Machine launching in 2015 with weak sales. The console was mostly deleted from the Steam store just a few years later in 2018.
This previous failure may come as a surprise given the overwhelming success of the Steam Deck, Valve's groundbreaking portable gaming device. The Steam Deck (along with the premium Steam OLED model) can be seen as partially responsible for the explosion of portable or hybrid gaming PCs over the last few years – a hardware trend that even Microsoft has started participating in with the ROG Xbox Ally, an Xbox-branded handheld. However, the Steam Machine targets a significantly different category of hardware.
Valve is re-entering the home console market with the next-gen Steam Machine, coming in 2026
Specifications of the new Steam Machine
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CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T up to 4.8 GHz, 30 W TDP
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GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs 2.45 GHz max continuous clock, 110W TDP
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Supports 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR
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Ray tracing supported
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More than 6x more powerful than Steam Deck
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16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
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SSD models with a capacity of 512 GB and 2 TB
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Micro SD card slot for extended storage/portable catalog
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Internal power source, AC power supply 110-240V
Valve describes this Steam Machine as “more than 6x more powerful than the Steam Deck” with hardware specs that will allow it to support 4K gaming at 60 FPS and ray-tracing. Its semi-custom AMD architecture allows AMD FSR upscaling, which should hopefully facilitate better graphics and performance. Steam Machine will not include DLSS or other upscaling software, at least not in this model. Steam Deck's dynamic hardware scheduling is one of its biggest tricks, adjusting the minimum VRAM for ideal performance and power consumption in different games, so it will be interesting to see how these specs are defined in the context of similar computing maneuvers in the Steam Machine.
At the time of writing, Valve has not revealed how much the Steam Machine will cost. Its predecessor was dynamically priced: the base model sold for $499, while more advanced versions with higher specifications cost up to $6,000. There are currently two variants of the Steam Machine available – a 512GB version and a 2TB version – so consumers can expect some degree of tiered pricing this time around as well. Valve has yet to specify a firm release date, though it has said the hardware should ship in “early 2026.” Consoles can be purchased separately or bundled with a new Steam Controller.
The gaming industry has changed quite a bit since 2015 and so has Valve. It now has a few more years of successfully delivering hardware, which will hopefully translate into a better user experience and better sales. PC games also have much more mainstream appeal today than they did in 2010, thanks to increasingly ambitious and seductive indie producers. These factors, combined with improvements made to SteamOS, a major problem with the original Steam Machine, could help this new product line avoid the pitfalls of its predecessor.
- Mark
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Valve
- Original release date
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September 12, 2003
- Original MSRP (USD)
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ON
- Weight
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ON
Steam is a digital video game store and program developed by Valve that allows gamers to purchase, play, and edit their titles through a single, convenient program.
