evaporated steam
Valve’s Steam Machine was set to expand on the success of Steam Deck, but it’s currently in limbo, and the deck is also in limbo.
Credit: Valve
Valve’s Steam Machine was set to expand on the success of Steam Deck, but it’s currently in limbo, and the deck is also in limbo.
Credit: Valve
But Valve’s effort to compete directly with Microsoft and PC hardware makers has hit a snag, at least for now: huge cost increases and supply constraints for all types of PC components, especially memory and storage chips.
The problems that plagued the PC components market in late 2025 are now being felt throughout the consumer tech industry. All chipmakers are chasing the generative AI gold rush, which requires enormous amounts of memory, storage, GPUs, and (increasingly) even CPUs. That means less manufacturing capacity for the components that go into consumer-grade hardware, and more fighting over what supplies are left. Prices that were already being pushed upward by the Trump administration’s now-illegal tariffs are now being pushed upward due to shortages.
This has been especially difficult for anyone trying to make cheap or low-margin hardware. The reduction in the price of game consoles, already a thing of the past due to the death of Moore’s Law, has given way to the price Growth instead. Companies like Raspberry Pi and Framework have raised prices several times this year; Even Apple, which has historically been able to command favorable prices for component purchases due to its sheer size, is having problems.
For Valve, these problems have not only indefinitely delayed the Steam Machine (“first half of the year” is still the plan, giving Valve two months to figure it out), but have made the 4-year-old Steam deck largely inaccessible. Third-party handheld manufacturers have raised prices and delayed products indefinitely, taking away another potential source of first-time SteamOS users.
It was always hard to see how the Steam Machine would compete with consoles in terms of price, and that’s probably still true, even though consoles now cost significantly more than they did a few years ago. even if it does launch, and even if Valve can keep it in stock, it may not be available at a price most people are actually willing to pay.
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