Yesterday was a big day for Valve. Not only did it reveal the Steam Frame, a new bit of VR kit, as we knew it would, but it took us by surprise with the announcement of its Steam Machine. Reviving the old Linux-based, SteamOS-running hardware the world wasn’t ready for back in 2015, it’s a console-like PC wrapped in a tiny black box that’s meant to be hooked up to your TV. With the ol’ Steam library, of course.
It’ll need a controller, obviously, and Valve hasn’t disappointed. The Steam Controller is best described as a Steam Deck without that cumbersome display between all the clicky bits. With two big touchpads, drift-resistant sticks, rumble, and a wireless charging pad, it feels like Valve is onto something here. Even better, it’ll sell the controller to PC gamers uninterested in the Steam Machine itself.
Full Steam ahead
Looking like an Xbox Series X on Ozempic, the Steam Machine keeps it simple with a cuboid design with customisable plates on the front, a mini-LED strip along the bottom, USB-A ports, and room for a MicroSD card. Around the back, you’ll find DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0 (did the HDMI store run out of 2.1?), USB-A and C, and Ethernet ports. This wonderful little box does away with the theatrics of the PS5 and can be plonked anywhere.
Performance-wise, Valve reckons its thing has about six times the horsepower of the Steam Deck. It packs in a “semi-custom AMD Zen 4” CPU and a “semi-custom AMD RDNA3” GPU, 512GB or 2TB of storage, 16GB DDR5 physical memory, with the real stick in the mud being the 8GB GDDR6 VRAM.
All that translates to an experience that Valve says should hit 4K at 60 FPS — with FSR. Several outlets have already gotten their hands on Valve’s new hardware, wth Digital Foundry reporting the device supports FSR 2 and 3, but no FSR 4 “at this junction.” Valve is reportedly in discussion with AMD about supporting the tech on this console in the future, but has nothing to say about it at this moment.
The company also stressed to Digital Foundry that the HDMI 2.0 port is 2.1-capable, with VRR and HDR supported, but that it “doesn’t currently support modes that require DSC, like 4K/165Hz”. And whatever use cases Valve is propping up here, this is still a PC at heart, making a versatile machine. Valve also mentioned that the Machine could stream more intensive games to the Deck, as well as the Steam Frame.
Taking control of the Steam Machine
While the Steam Machine works with any Bluetooth controller you throw at it, the Steam Controller is custom-built for Valve’s hardware. It’s got “grip-enabled gyro”, symmetrical TMR joysticks, two touchpads underneath it, rumble — the whole shebang. Four customisable buttons round out the back, with a Steam button plastered firmly on the front. Pretty much everything can be remapped, even on a game-by-game basis, if you’d like.
It’ll charge up the 8.39Wh Lithium-ion battery inside (which Valve says will net 35+ hours on a single charge) through a magnetic wireless charging pad that clips onto the back of the controller. Or, you could be boring and use a regular USB-C cable. Digital Foundry also noted that the Steam Machine has its own Bluetooth antenna for controller connectivity, instead of splitting the Wi-Fi antenna, with four controllers able to connect at once.
Going back to the Half-Life 3 talk, fans are convinced that Valve’s funky wording during the hardware announcement means that Gordon Freeman’s return is all but assured. Tack on the fact that Shpeshal_Nick said that Valve’s hardware announcement wasn’t the one that could potentially rival the hype of GTA 6, though still alluding to the announcement possibly being Valve-related in nature.
That all seems well and good. All that remains now is the price and a more solid release date beyond “early 2026”. Valve conveniently forgot to mention how much these suckers will set your wallet back. It’s a mixed bag of specs that likely won’t appeal to the upper echelon of the PC master race, instead targeting more casual gamers. Valve needs to nail the price if it hopes to jam its foot in the console door.
