It was way back at the end of 2013 when Valve first announced the Steam Machine, a console-like gaming device that gives you access to your full Steam library. That turned out to be absolute vaporware. That is, until the outfit debuted the Steam Deck a few years ago, bringing the promise of the Steam Machine inside a gaming handheld form factor. This time around, they’re bring the same thing to the living room in the form of the Valve Steam Machine.
That’s right, Valve has once again announced the Steam Machine and it’s for real this time. A gaming PC, it runs the outfit’s SteamOS out of the box just like the Steam Deck, all while coming with six times the gaming handheld’s processing muscle. How much more powerful is that? According to the outfit, the console packs enough punch to run most games in 4K at 60 fps (albeit using FSR), making it ideal for hooking up to your big screen TV in the living room.
The Valve Steam Machine is, basically, a mini-PC housed in a cube-shaped case that measures 6.3 inches on all sides. It’s very minimalist, with nothing but black panels on all sides and a simple LED strip out front, although it has a front plate that can be replaced, allowing you to add some amount of customization. Additionally, it allows you to program the LED strip, which comes with 17 individually addressable RGB LEDs, giving it different colors and animations, as well as turn it off completely if you prefer as little distraction as possible.
Inside, it houses a semi-custom 4.8Ghz AMD Zen 4 CPU (six cores, 12 threads), a semi-custom 2.45GHZ AMD RDNA3 GPU with 8GB DDR6 VRAM, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and two options in SSD storage (512GB or 2TB). There’s also a high-speed microSD card slot, so you can easily augment the SSD capacity with additional storage. According to Valve, this combo gives it roughly six times the processing muscle of the Steam Deck, making it a truly capable gaming PC, especially considering how well the gaming handheld can already run most games.
The Valve Steam Machine comes with Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, a DisplayPort 1.4 slot (supports 4K at 240Hz and 8K at 60Hz), an HDMI 2.1 slot (supports up to 4K at 120Hz), gigabit Ethernet, four USB-A ports, and one USB-C port. It runs the outfit’s own SteamOS 3, which is built on top of Arch Linux. Aside from letting you play games on the big screen, the device can also be used to stream more demanding games to the Steam Deck and work with the outfit’s newly-announced Steam Frame VR headset.
While it’s designed to work with any of the myriad of PC gaming controllers already in the market, Valve also made their own Steam Controller. The gamepad uses an asymmetric layout with magnetic TMR thumbsticks, a D-pad, four action buttons, two shoulder buttons, two triggers, four paddle buttons in the back, and a pair of trackpads out front, right below the thumbsticks. They also add grip-enabled gyro using a pair of sensors in the grip, which they claim will allow for more natural aiming, as well as rumble motors for interactive feedback. The controller comes with a magnetic contact charger that also serves as a wireless transmitter to ensure a strong, stable wireless connection.
The Valve Steam Machine comes out in early 2026. No pricing has been announced.
