Miyuki Aizawa

Do you remember my previous posts about Steam Machine?

You can find the links on the right side, below the photo for this post.

For months, we have known that Valve was working on bringing back the idea of a compact gaming PC designed for the living room. We had a pretty good idea of what to expect. We saw the specifications, learned about the project’s goals, and followed the leaks and official announcements along the way.

But there was always one important piece missing.

The price.

And now we finally have it.

I have to admit, when I saw the equivalent of 4389 PLN for the base Steam Machine model, I had to look twice to make sure I wasn’t reading it wrong.

Because, you know…

I’m a huge fan of the Steam Deck (even though I don’t have one… YET! ^^).
I like SteamOS.
I like Valve’s games.

But the moment I saw that price tag, one very specific question immediately popped into my head:
Who exactly is Steam Machine supposed to be for?

On paper, it sounds fantastic.

A compact cube.

SteamOS.

Instant access to your Steam library.

Native Steam Controller support.

A living-room-friendly gaming experience.

For many PC gamers, that's a dream setup.

Then you look at the price.

And suddenly things become a lot more complicated.

The base Steam Machine starts at $1049 / €1039

$1128 / €1108  with the controler.

$1349 / €1359 for a 2 TB variant.

$1428 / €1428 for a full package (2TB + controler).

Which was the exact moment that left me wondering:

Who exactly is this for?

Because unlike the Steam Deck, which immediately made sense as a product, Steam Machine occupies a very strange space in today's market.

For the same amount of money you can buy a powerful gaming PC.

A PlayStation 5 Pro.

A gaming laptop.

Or build your own desktop from scratch.

To be clear, I don't think Steam Machine is a bad product.

Valve has earned a tremendous amount of trust thanks to the Steam Deck.

But this time the pricing feels much harder to justify.

And yes, I realize that a large part of that price is due to the high cost of RAM, but as we all know, the memory situation will eventually settle down, while hardware prices will remain sky-high because corporations have to make a profit.

The specifications are solid.

A custom AMD Zen 4 CPU.

RDNA 3 graphics.

16 GB of DDR5 memory.

SteamOS.

Yet Valve is also marketing Steam Machine as a 4K gaming device powered by FSR.

And that's where my skepticism starts.

The hardware looks good.

But not "over one thousand euros" good.

Especially in 2026.

I also can't help remembering the original Steam Machines.

Many longtime Steam users probably remember how that experiment ended.

The idea was excellent.

The execution was far less successful.

Most players ultimately stayed with traditional gaming PCs or consoles.

That's why I'm approaching this announcement with cautious optimism.

Do I want Valve to succeed?

Absolutely.

Do I think competition benefits everyone?

Definitely.

But I'm not convinced this pricing strategy will allow Steam Machine to move beyond a niche enthusiast audience.

Unless...

Gabe Newell has one final surprise hidden up his sleeve.

You know.

The one with the number three.

The one that starts with "Half" and ends with "Life".

Because let's be honest.

If Valve walked onto a stage tomorrow and announced:

"By the way, Half-Life 3 launches next month."

the internet would probably stop functioning for several hours.

But even then...

Buying a Steam Machine solely for Half-Life 3 would be a questionable decision.

One game, even Half-Life 3, doesn't justify purchasing an entirely new system for most players.

For now, I'll remain cautiously interested.

I like SteamOS.

I like Valve's hardware philosophy.

I kinda like the idea of a console-like PC.

But at this price, Steam Machine still has a lot to prove before it becomes anything more than a very expensive curiosity for Steam fans.

What about you?

Would you buy a Steam Machine?

Or would you rather spend that money upgrading your current gaming PC?