Valve still 'hopes' to ship Steam Machines in 2026, but a delay into 2027 is starting to look like a real possibility: 'Memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us'

Valve still ‘hopes’ to ship Steam Machines in 2026, but a delay into 2027 is starting to look like a real possibility: ‘Memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us’ | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Hardware In the battle for our living rooms, Xbox Project Helix and the Steam Machine make for unlikely rivals on paper—but Microsoft’s new PC gaming-capable console might be raising some eyebrows at Valve Platforms Steam sale dates: When is the next Steam sale? 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Here’s an RTX 5070 Ti gaming PC with a load of RAM and SSD storage, all inexplicably at last year’s price SSDs Unfortunately, all of that doomsaying last year was correct and SSD prices are surging as a result of the memory crisis Graphics Cards Nvidia reportedly won’t release any new RTX graphics cards this year, and the RTX 60-series is said to be pushed back, too Handheld Gaming PCs Valve breaks its silence on Steam Deck OLED scarcity and yes, it’s because of the RAM and storage crisis Hardware Here’s what we think the Steam Machine will cost now that Valve’s admitted ‘limited availability and growing prices’ have forced it to change plans Hardware ‘We expect supply constraints to be the headwind to gaming in Q1 and beyond’ says Nvidia, although it claims demand and inventory levels are ‘healthy’ Graphics Cards Nvidia is reportedly looking to cut gaming GPU production by up to 40% in 2026 due to VRAM supply issues, but it’s not as bad news as you might think. Not yet, at least VR Hardware Apple adds the Steam Frame’s most anticipated feature, foveated streaming, to the Vision Pro PopularNEW: PC Gamer Clips!MarathonArc RaidersBest PC gearQuizzes Hardware Valve still ‘hopes’ to ship Steam Machines in 2026, but a delay into 2027 is starting to look like a real possibility: ‘Memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us’ News By Andy Chalk published 6 March 2026 As recently as February, Valve expected to have Steam Machines and other hardware released in the first half of the year, but that’s no longer the case. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. 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From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered. Signup + Once a month SFX Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month! Signup + An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletter The new hardware lineup revealed by Valve in 2025—the Steam Controller, Steam Frame VR headset, and Steam Machine—made quite a first impression. The Steam Machine in particular came off as streamlined, simple, and very capable: A significant evolution over Valve’s early Steam Machines that has the potential to finally bring livingroom PC gaming to the mainstream. Just two big questions remained: How much, and when?That question is muddled by one big thing: The RAMpocalypse wrought by the headlong pursuit of AI, which has caused supply shortages and skyrocketing prices on memory, SSDs, and GPUs.It’s a chaotic state of affairs, and the uncertainty its caused may mean a longer wait for the new Steam kit than we expected: As recently as early February, Valve said all three products were expected to launch in the first half of this year, but now 2026 as a whole is starting to feel shaky. You may like ‘Memory and storage shortages’ means Valve can’t give us pricing or release dates for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame Here’s what we think the Steam Machine will cost now that Valve’s admitted ‘limited availability and growing prices’ have forced it to change plans Steam Machine will play the majority of Steam titles ‘at 4K 60 fps with FSR’, but some will require more upscaling than others, Valve says “We hope to ship in 2026, but as we shared recently, memory and storage shortages have created challenges for us,” Valve wrote in its 2025 Year in Review. “We’ll s