I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry
Monday, June 22, 2026
Comments: 8 (plus live) (latest 2 days later)
Tagged: consoles, steam, steam deck
I have no hot take, but I did post this last year:
Another Valve hardware announcement: the Steam Machine is back. I am immediately and predictably on board for it.
-- me, November 2025
So I owe you a followup post, which is, TLDR: "too rich for my blood."
512GB: $1049 512GB w/ Controller: $1128 2TB: $1349 2TB w/ Controller: $1428
I would guess that, back in the Devonian epoch of 2025, Valve was aiming this product at $600-$800, which would be an insta-buy for me. But obviously that's not the 2026 we're living in. In this 2026, I am quite sure that Valve has priced the new Steam Machine at break-even. They'll sell a tiny number and be thankful the damage wasn't any worse.
I like that they've made SteamOS available. That will be good for the hardcore hardware crowd, but I'm just not in that ecosystem. If I tried to homebrew a Steam Machine from parts, I'd undoubtedly spend $2500 and be lucky if it ever booted up.
Maybe things will ease up in 2027, in which case Valve (and Apple and a lot of other companies) will undo their price hikes. That would be nice. No bets right now.
Could I afford $1400 for a new toy? Enh. I have that much in my bank account. I have what passes for a stable job in this economy. But that's the hitch: in this economy. Nothing is safe, nothing is reliable, and I am looking at the extremely real possibility that I am already unemployable if I have to go back on the market.
Given that, big impulse purchases don't feel super-good.
(Don't worry, small impulse purchases are still on the menu.)
So what now? The short answer is that I have (a) a nice couch; (b) a big TV; (c) a Steam Deck that I never use. I even have a dock for the Deck. So I should hook them all together and try out some games.
The Steam Deck (first-gen) is not what you'd call a high-power machine. That's why I was hoping to replace it with a cube! But, hey, I play a lot of low-power games. I just finished The Red Pearls of Borneo (review coming soon!) and might work on EMUUROM some more. If the setup doesn't serve me on the next fancy-ass immersive adventure game, it'll still do plenty of puzzle games.
I tried this plan last year; it didn't work because last year's TV was antique and inadequate. I have since gotten a better TV -- not an impulse purchase; I spent two months thinking about it! -- so the plan needs another shot.
But first I need (d) a Steam Controller. That's the affordable part of Valve's current bundle and it definitely looks worthwhile.
Comments from Mastodon
@peterb If this is the new normal, then the new normal is buying a new machine once a decade instead of once every five years. Or whatever a given person's numbers are.
Also, you haven't gotten laid off twice in the past three years. Just saying.
@peterb (I don't think this is really going to be the permanent price level for computer hardware. There *is* competition in the RAM and storage market, it's just that the supply lines are measured in years.)
(Of course the new normal next year may be Great Depression.)
The Aftermath article lead is:
Valve has released a tiny, silent, entry level PC that does important work bringing PCs gaming to the living room and desktop Linux to the masses. The timing could not be worse.
That about sums it up.
@zarfeblong the universe has been cruel to them in their forays into hardware, which is a shame because they've proven to be pretty dang good at it when they control the whole process.
I haven't used a Deck yet, but as someone who's very happy with the original Controller, I quite like the redesign and intend to retire my OG in favor of it
but the Machine... ? Sorry, guys. Even with as much as I could do with a system refresh (10+ years at this point), that's pricing me out. "Hope I can buy a later rev" is where I've settled.
@zarfeblong Your thought process is very much like mine. I really like the hardware, I really like the thought of having it in my living room and it would be an instant purchase for less than 800 €. The only difference is, that I have a SteamDeck that I actually use 😉
I wrote:
But first I need (d) a Steam Controller.
"Your estimated order availability: 2027.”
Argh!
Comments from Mastodon (live)
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@zarfeblong i think the truly salient point here is "i have a steam deck i never use". The steam deck is kinda the same thing as the steam machine with lower resolution. You could hook it up to your tv today. So if you're not using your deck, OF COURSE you shouldn't pay $1300 for a steam machine.
For me, it's a day 1 purchase. But I don't doubt that you're right that it might be too expensive at the moment for some people, unless and until people capitulate to believing that these prices are the new normal. Which they might be.