Valve is making another effort towards bringing a console-style experience to your living room. The company has announced a new Steam Machine and Steam Controller that lets you play PC games on your TV in the same way that the Steam Deck lets you play on the go.
The Steam Machine works like a console, but is technically a compact PC. The boxy device has a customizable front plate and LED light strip, with USB-A and a microSD card slot available right up front. Inside, the Steam Machine is powered by what Valve describes as a “semi-custom AMD Zen 4” CPU and “semi-custom AMD RDNA 3” GPU with “16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM” and 512GB or 2TB SSD storage.
Valve says the Steam Machine has “approximately six times the horsepower” of the Steam Deck, and is capable of supporting 4K gaming at 60 fps with FSR. Interestingly, Valve is also offering the device as a way to stream more demanding games to your Steam Deck, the Steam Frame VR headset that the company announced today, or any device running Steam Link.
While you can use the Steam Machine with a traditional Bluetooth controller, Valve has created their own solution. The new Steam Controller puts all the different control methods of the Steam Deck into one wireless controller. This includes the stick, face buttons, grip buttons, triggers, and bumpers, but also mouse controls and a trackpad for gyro controls. The Steam Controller works over both Bluetooth or a wired connection, and Valve also includes a charging dongle that also works as a wireless transmitter for the fastest connections.
Like the original Steam Controller, your input method can be individually customized for each game, and profiles can be shared. Valve says the new controller will work with any device running Steam, including Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame.
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