I’m not sure whether gamers should consider themselves lucky or not, but Valve has confirmed that, yes, the Steam Machine and Steam Frame are still shipping this summer. In a new blog post, Valve provided some additional details:
“Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer. As with Steam Deck Verified, the goal is to help customers understand the out-of-box experience for a given title on these new devices, and how smoothly a game will run with no user work or configuration required.”
Unfortunately, that’s about all we know. Valve is still being rather coy about the pricing of both the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. With the recent Steam Deck price increases, I think many of us, myself included, aren't expecting the Steam Machine to come in at anything less than over $1,000. The Steam Frame may be a little easier on the wallet, but at this point, it’s hard to even guess.
It’s genuinely tough to see how challenging the hardware market has become right now. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently spoke about rising memory costs in an interview with Bloomberg, where she said: “Well with AI memory and storage costs are going up 2.75x rather than 50% down.”
That highlights just how widespread the issue has become across the industry. As a gamer, it’s honestly a little depressing. I remember when you could pick up an Xbox 360 or PS3 for significantly less than their launch prices a few years into their lifecycle. These days, you’re lucky to find a modern console selling for the same price it launched at.
I still hope Valve can find ways to keep the cost of its upcoming hardware as reasonable as possible, but the broader market trends suggest that won’t be easy. With all that said, let me know your thoughts.
Are you excited about Valve’s upcoming hardware, or are potential price concerns putting you off? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!
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