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■ Steam
Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront for video games and software, developed by Valve Corporation and launched in September 2003 for Windows, expanding to macOS in 2010 and Linux in 2013. It enables users to purchase, download, and manage games, offering features like matchmaking, cloud storage, update maintenance, and social networking

As previously predicted, the basic Steam Machine is over $1,000 (they couldn’t even get the price to $999 even without a controller!), and going as high as $1,500 if you want additional storage. The controller, itself, can be purchase separately for $100.

I’m very disappointed in seeing the very high price, because it’s clear to me that Steam wants to make a profit on these machines, and no efforts in subsidizing the cost of the machine. Steam gets a 30% cut off all games sold on Steam, and owner Gabe Newell, in addition to his various yachts, recently just bought another Super Mansion with underground tunnel for $70.8 Million. The guy is super duper rich, he can afford to give us $1 million subsidy to the Steam Machine. He could probably just write off the $1 million as a tax cut/charity. Seriously, there’s no reason why Steam is charging $1k for their outdated machine.

Based on early tests and conclusions, the Steam Machine is meant for 1080p gaming, in an age where most consumers own a 4k TV (I bought mine in Dec 2024 for $399). This spec is on par with 2020 releases, such as the PS5 and Xbox… as it performs about the same, if not worst.

My Xbox Series X, which I bought for $500 (half the price of a Steam Machine) can play games at 4k and has a 4K Bluray disc reader. If you want a 4K reader for your UHD discs, the best value is the Xbox Series X (with disk drive), because not only are you getting a gaming system, but also a powerful video player. In addition, you can download Jellyfin and playback your local media, at 4k, if you are running the server.

Anwyay, to put things in perspective, I’ve broken down the Steam Machine verses other consoles on the market. Please note that all the consoles, to date, comes with a free controller. The only one that does not come with a controller is the Steam Machine, so I have adjusted the price for the Steam Machine with their controller “bundle”.

When the Steam Machine was first announced in Nov 2025, I was excited and said that I would buy one if it was $400… anything higher, I would rather just buy a PS5. And guess what? You can buy both the basic PS5 and Xbox S (both comes with free controllers) for less than one Steam Machine (that does not come with a controller). It just doesn’t make any sense why anyone would want to buy a Steam Machine… but I suspect it will sell out anyway.

Console	Release Date	Price	Accessory	CPU/GPU	Storage	O/S
Steam Machine	July 2026	$1,128	Steam Controller	AMD Zen 4 / RDNA 3	512GB	SteamOS (Linux)
PS5	Nov 2020	$599	DualSense Wireless Controller	AMD Ryzen Zen / RDNA 2	825GB	PlayStation OS
Xbox Series S / X	Nov 2020	$399 (originally $299)/$599 (originally $499)	Xbox Wireless Controller	AMD Zen 2 / RDNA 2	512GB / 1TB	Xbox OS
Nintendo Switch 2	June 2025	$499 (originally $449.99)	Detachable Joy-Con 2	Nvidia Tegra T239 processor	256GB	Nintendo System
ROG Xbox Ally	Oct 2025	$599	Built-in controllers	AMD Ryzen Z2 A	512GB	Windows 11