Valve has opened reservations for the Steam Machine and set its opening price at $1,049 for the base 512GB model. Buyers who also want the Steam Controller can choose a bundle at $1,128, saving $21 compared to the controller’s $99 standalone price. The 2TB storage option costs $1,349 alone or $1,428 bundled, and comes with red fabric and walnut faceplates as standard.
The Steam Machine is Valve’s return to dedicated living room gaming hardware. The original Steam Machine lineup, released in 2015 through multiple manufacturing partners, did not sustain a market against consoles and Windows gaming PCs. Valve’s more recent hardware, the Steam Deck portable launched in 2022, found a much larger audience. The new Steam Machine carries the same SteamOS approach into a stationary desktop form factor.
SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system on both devices, runs most Steam library titles through Valve’s Proton compatibility layer without requiring a Windows license. It mirrors the Steam Deck’s software environment, giving buyers access to a large portion of the PC gaming catalog.
How the Steam Machine reservation lottery works
Rather than a timed drop, Valve is using a lottery to distribute the first units. Registration stays open until June 25 at 1PM ET. To be eligible, buyers need a Steam account in good standing with at least one purchase made before April 27. After registration closes, Valve randomizes all entries to create a purchase queue and a waitlist. Customers selected in the draw start receiving invitation emails on June 29.
Valve explained the choice: “A launch that starts at a specific day and time tends to reward bots, people with fast internet connections, and those who can schedule their life around that moment.” The lottery gives buyers who can’t monitor a product page at a fixed time the same chance as everyone else.
Valve Steam Machine specs
The Steam Machine is a compact cube, roughly six inches on each side. It uses semi-custom AMD silicon: a Zen 4 processor with six cores and 12 threads, paired with RDNA3 graphics at 28 compute units. System memory is 16GB DDR5 and video memory is 8GB GDDR6. Connectivity covers multiple USB ports, DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6E. Both storage configurations support microSD expansion.
Where to reserve the Steam Machine
Valve maintains separate reservation queues for North America, the UK and EU, and Australia. In Asia, Komodo handles distribution for Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
At $1,049, the Valve Steam Machine lands in mid-range gaming PC price territory. The distinction is form factor and software: SteamOS runs without a Windows license, and the cube is built for the living room rather than a desktop.