A Steam engine A PC-console hybrid is coming, and this it won’t be too long. Valve says we’ll have to wait a few more months to find out how much the 6 x 6-inch living room gaming machine will cost.
Late Thursday blog postValve wrote that it plans to ship the Steam Machine next year Steam Frame VR headset “this summer.” No, it’s not a specific date we’re expecting, but it’s more than what the company has been offering PC gamers lately, so we’ll take what we can get.
The blog post further explains what players can expect from the game Steam Verified appwhich stores a list of games that Valve promises will work well on the Steam Deck handheld as well as its console and headset. If a game does well on Steam Deck, it will also have a confirmed place on Steam Machine. Valve claims to have tested “tens of thousands” of Steam titles to determine if they deserve the Steam Machine-approved sticker.
Such is the case around the Steam Frame, an ARM-based headset powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. a little more complicated. Valve will let you play 2D games in a virtual reality environment (any augmented reality transition features will only be in black and white), as well as existing VR titles. Any titles in the Steam Frame Standalone Verified library must have readable text, support the default controller configuration, and remain readable.
Without a word on pricing, Valve is leaving consumers to guess, and I’m sure some are imagining the worst. I’ll still hold out a glimmer of hope that we might see a Valve console come for under $700, but I won’t blame you for expecting it to cost more.
Last month, Valve launched the $100 Steam Controller as a kind of poke for the rest of its included hardware. Then, in May, Steam developer raised the price his Steam Deck OLED almost in hand 50% for the 1TB model. The company is now asking $950 for 3 years of equipment. That doesn’t necessarily mean the more powerful Steam Engine will cost more than $1,000, but all that waiting for word on price is certainly not a good sign.
