Valve says Steam Machine and Steam Frame still coming this year despite memory shortage

While Valve had originally planned to release new hardware products in early 2026, the ongoing memory and storage shortage has put a hold to those plans. Valve has recently pushed its release timing from ‘Q1 2026' to ‘1H 2026'. 

In an update shared this week Valve said that it still ‘hopes' to ship the Steam Machine, Steam Frame and Steam Controller in 2026. This had some worrying that the new products may not ship this year at all but a spokesperson told The Verge that Valve still fully intends to ship its new products in the first half of this year.

While we were initially expecting all three new hardware products to launch before the end of this month, towards the end of last year, the AI data centre market began to make a huge impact on global memory and storage supplies. Since then, prices for high-speed RAM and storage have been creeping up and manufacturers have begun shifting production capacity to better serve the AI market, leaving less production available for consumer-grade electronics.

Aside from the Steam Machine, there has also been talk of the memory shortage causing price hikes for current consoles like the Nintendo Switch 2 and delays for next-gen systems like the PlayStation 6.

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KitGuru Says: Do you think Valve should pause its release plans or should it push ahead despite potential long-term supply challenges?

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