Evaporated steam
Valve’s Steam Machine was set to expand on the success of the Steam Deck, but it’s currently in limbo, and so is the Deck.
Credit: valve
Valve’s Steam Machine was set to expand on the success of the Steam Deck, but it’s currently in limbo, and so is the Deck.
Credit: valve
But Valve’s push to compete directly with Microsoft and PC hardware makers has hit a wall, at least for now: huge cost increases and supply increases for all kinds of PC components, particularly memory and storage chips.
The problems that began to affect the PC components market in late 2025 are now being felt throughout the consumer technology industry. Chipmakers are all chasing the generative AI gold rush, which is in dire need of memory, storage, GPUs, and (increasingly) even CPUs. This means less manufacturing capacity for components that go into consumer hardware and more fighting over the remaining supply. Prices that were already being pushed up by the Trump administration’s now illegal tariffs are now being pushed up by shortages.
This has been particularly difficult for anyone trying to make cheap or low-margin hardware. Game console price cuts, is now a thing of the past thanks to the death of Moore’s Lawhave given way to the price walks instead. Companies like Raspberry Pi and Framework have increased prices several times this year; Even Apple, which has historically been able to get favorable prices for component purchases thanks to its large size, has had problems.
For Valve, these issues have not only delayed the Steam Machine indefinitely (“the first half of the year” is still the plan, giving Valve two months to resolve it), but have also made the 4-year-old Steam Deck largely unpurchasable. Third-party wearable manufacturers have raised prices and indefinitely delayed products, eliminating another potential source of first-time SteamOS users.
It was always a little difficult to see how the Steam Machine would work. compete with consoles on priceand that’s probably still true even though consoles now cost quite a bit more than they did a couple of years ago. Even if does launch, and even if Valve can keep it in stock, it may not be available at a price that most people are actually willing to pay.
