Valve’s Steam Machine ships June 29 for $1,049, but you probably won’t be able to buy one yet

The Steam Machine is almost here. Valve chose possibly the worst time to announce new PC gaming hardware in late 2025, just as the AI boom sent storage and RAM prices through the roof. The upheaval delayed its new Steam Machine release, but Valve has announced its TV-friendly gaming PC will go on sale June 29 with a reservation-based system and a starting price of $1,049. The Steam Machine will come in two variations: one with 512GB of storage and a more expensive one with 2TB. They’ll retail for $1,049 and $1,349, respectively, and you’ll be able to bundle a Steam Controller with either for an additional $79. Buying the 2TB model also gets you a pair of exclusive faceplates with red fabric and walnut finishes. Like the Steam Deck, the machine ships with the Linux-based SteamOS. Both versions of the Steam Machine will run on a custom six-core AMD Zen 4 CPU with a peak clock speed of 4.8GHz. The integrated AMD RDNA3 GPU will feature 28 compute units and 8GB of dedicated DDR6 VRAM soldered to the board. The system will have its own 16GB allotment of DDR5 on the board. This should provide enough oomph (with upscaling tech) to play moderately demanding PC games on your TV. So this is an objectively expensive gaming device, but there’s no sticker shock here—the Steam Machine is the same kind of expensive as every other computer in 2026. Components have been getting astronomically more expensive over the last year, forcing PC and game console makers to raise prices as their margins get slimmer. Sony has pushed the base PlayStation 5 to $600, and the Pro model is $900. Nintendo launched the Switch 2 at $450, but it recently bumped that up to $500. PC makers like Dell, Lenovo, and HP have all been pushing prices higher to compensate for component costs. Valve also raised the price of its Steam Deck handheld by more than $200 recently. According to Valve, it did not set out to make a Steam Machine that starts north of $1,000. When the company began sourcing parts in 2023, it believed the hardware would cost much less. Valve admits the original vision is “no longer viable” in 2026. So the prices we’re seeing today are a reflection of what it costs to build a gaming PC today—specifically, what it costs Valve to buy components for the Steam Machine over the past six months. That suggests the pricing could change in future batches as component prices continue to go up. Pray to RNG gods According to Valve, the worldwide shortage of memory and storage isn’t just a problem for prices. The company was, at times, unable to get the parts it needed to build Steam Machines at any price, which has impacted the number of machines it has available. That won’t be a surprise to anyone who has been trying to snag a Steam Deck in 2026, but it means you won’t be able to just buy a Steam Machine on a whim. To combat resellers and keep things fair, Valve will use a randomized reservation setup. There’s no way for anyone to guarantee they will get a Steam Machine in the first batch, but this ensures people with super-fast connections and bot armies won’t be able to vacuum up all the units. If you want to try your luck, just sign up for a reservation before Thursday, June 25, at 10 am Pacific. Valve says anyone with a valid Steam account who has made any purchase before April 27, 2026, is allowed to place a reservation, but there’s a limit of one per household. Once reservations close, all the sign-ups will undergo a one-time randomization to create the final waitlist order. Later on June 25, Valve will send out emails to all reservation holders with the results. If the RNG gods are kind, the email will report you’re in the “Reservation queue,” meaning a Steam Machine in the initial batch is allocated and will ship as soon as it’s ready. Alternatively, the email will tell you that you’ve been added to the waitlist, and Valve will get in touch when future batches are manufactured. The lucky winners of Valve’s lottery will have the privilege of paying $1,049 for a Steam Machine, but even then, you may have to wait. Valve says the first orders should go out on June 29, and it will continue shipping them as units are ready.