'Memory and storage shortages' means Valve can't give us pricing or release dates for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame

Valve has confirmed it still plans to release the Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller in the first half of 2026, but more specific release and pricing information has been complicated by the ongoing memory and storage crises, or as we like to call it, the RAMpocalypse.

"When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now," Valve writes in a newly published FAQ about its forthcoming hardware. "But the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame)."

As Jacob writes in his exhaustive primer on the memory crisis, the AI boom is largely to blame for jacked up RAM and SSD prices, thanks to AI servers' insatiable hunger for both. It's a problem that anyone hoping to build a gaming PC has to tackle at the moment, and not even an obscenely wealthy company like Valve is untouched by it.

"Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed," Valve continues. "But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible."

The Steam Machine price is probably the factor that will make or break Valve's second attempt to wrest control over the living room. Our hardware team has mostly agreed on a rough $500-$600 estimation for a 512GB model, but that was back in November: component prices have only become more challenged since then.

Meanwhile, also in November, a Valve coder said the Steam Machine would be priced like a PC, rather than a console. The latter are usually sold at a loss to bolster an install base, all the better to sell software. "If you build a PC from parts and get to basically the same level of performance, that’s the general price window that we aim to be at," Valve's Pierre-Loup Griffais said at the time.