The memory crisis is forcing Valve to rethink its hardware plans.
The latest rumors have now been confirmed: Valve has announced that the planned delivery of the Steam Machine, the controller, and the VR headset Frame will have to be postponed due to the memory crisis.
New Valve hardware coming later
Since the announcement in November 2025, fans have been waiting for news about the new Steam hardware. The new devices were actually supposed to be released in “early 2026.” However, that will not be happening, as Valve has now explained itself.
According to the company, the plan was to announce the release date and prices for the new hardware at this point in time. However, due to the current market situation, it has been forced to reconsider these points.
The reason for this, unsurprisingly, is the ever-worsening memory crisis, which has already made many components significantly more expensive and scarce.
This is apparently also affecting the production of the Steam Machine.
Valve further states that it still plans to deliver all three products in the first half of 2026. However, as the situation is very dynamic, no firm details can be given at this time.
Either way, the announcement is likely to mean that the Steam hardware will be more expensive than originally planned. The Steam Machine was intended to target both the PC and console markets. Whether it will actually be able to compete with the PS5 and Xbox Series X in terms of price is questionable, to say the least.
Until final details about the release and prices are ready to be announced, we would like to refer you to the blog to reveal more details about the hardware, for example in the form of deep dives, articles, and videos. So there will still be news.
If you don’t want to wait any longer, you can already build your own Steam Machine. Our colleague Linh shows you how to do this and what advantages it offers right now.
The Steam Machine will therefore be released later and will probably be more expensive. Nevertheless, Valve’s PC-console hybrid remains one of the most exciting hardware innovations of the year. Let’s just hope that history doesn’t repeat itself and the machine doesn’t turn out to be another flop.
