Valve updated their article about when the Steam Machine/Controller/Frame will ship.
Previous message:
We hope to ship in 2026, but as we shared recently, memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us. We’ll share updates publicly when we finalize our plans!
New message:
We shared recently that there have been challenges with memory and storage shortages, but we will be shipping all three products this year. More updates will be shared as we finalize our plans.
What good will be the release if it’s unbearably expensive?
Not a lot of good options at this point:
Wait for RAM to come back down to hit a more competitive price point. Could take years, during which the hardware performance is aging and losing competitive edge.
Release this year at a higher price point, and risk the price killing adoption rates, potentially dooming the hardware.
At least with option #2 we will get the steam controller sooner, since it’s price probably won’t be negatively impacted by RAM.
If I was Valve, at this point I’d probably scrap the project and develop a new console with a planned release in late 2027 or so. Hopefully the prices will get back to normal until then and they could use actually good hardware instead of relying on a 8GB FSR3 GPU.
Reviewers have already stated their fear that it might be dead on arrival when the price is not as competitively set as the Steam Deck’s and this was long before the RAM price increases. So I don’t really see a chance for a successful product launch in the current market.
They probably already have way too much hardware to just scrap the Frame and Machine.
They might just do a limited release though. I guess that’s what I would do.