The Steam Machine has been out for a little under a month, and it’s still charting well on Steam’s charts. Opinions vary about its value, and while rising memory costs are certainly to blame, Valve engineer Yazan Aldehayyat believes they could increase further.
Speaking to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, he said, “Honestly, it’s still getting worse. Just in case people are not aware. What people are seeing on retail shelves right now, from our observations, is lagging what we’re seeing from a bulk supply by at least three to six months.”
Regarding available supply, engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais noted, “We’re basically building everything we can. We’re limited by memory capacity, for sure.”
From that perspective, you have to wonder how successful the platform really is. But with how long the process has been, Aldehayyat believes it’s a strong option in today’s market. “We suspect that the Steam Machine is a really good way to solve a very real problem that people have. If that’s borne out to be true, from our opinion, it’s a success.”
While the memory crisis could continue well into 2027, affecting Project Helix and potentially the next generation of PlayStation, Valve isn’t slowing down. “Users are getting their machines. For a lot of the experience, the work starts. We’ll be doing that for years to come,” said Griffais.
The Steam Machine is currently available in two options – 512 GB for $1,049 and 2 TB for $1,349 (with an additional $79 required for the Steam Controller). However, you need to sign up to reserve one, and after the initial spree last month, new additions are relegated to the very end and will need to wait longer.
This method is in place to prevent botting and to allow those who can’t make time for pre-orders to open to become eligible to receive their own Steam Machine. They’re only doled out once per household as well to combat scalping.
