Steam Machine

[Moonface]

Steam Machine | Launch Timing and Pricing Update
To the surprise of nobody if you haven't been living under a rock to be unaware of the ongoing RAM shortages, Valve has shared that they are unable to give the exact launch timing and pricing of the Steam Machine and its accompanying hardware in a new FAQ post.

When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you've likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).

Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible.

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As I opened with, not surprising given the state of things; however, I wonder how long the announced price will remain unchanged. If we include June, then there's about five months left for this to launch, but if circumstances are changing quickly enough that a price announced today would be outdated in less than five months, I can't see how whatever price Valve gives won't see a change before the end of the year. I remember how consoles were struggling with production during Covid, but at least that didn't also come with volatile pricing conditions.

What sucks more is even if you don't care to grab one of these in favor of sticking with a PC, you better hope you don't need to upgrade or replace the thing anytime soon.