- Valve has announced that the Steam Machine is set to release this summer
- Pricing is still undisclosed, but analysts suggest it could start at $1,200
- The Steam Machine recently passed Vulkan compliance testing, suggesting it’s closer than ever before release
The RAM crisis has tied Valve’s hands and prevented it from launching the Steam Machine for months; instead, it has been firm on planning its launch date and pricing. Fortunately, a significant update has arrived, but with one key factor missing.
Valve announced that Steam Machine will launch alongside Steam Frame this summer, according to its latest Steamworks Development post. However, the price of the Steam Machine or its exact release date has still not been announced, due to the ongoing RAM crisis.
It’s worth noting that the Steam Machine passed a Vulkan 1.4 compliance test, as reported by Game Rant, which strongly suggests that it’s in the final stages of development (and at this stage ready for launch), as these tests are performed to ensure that the hardware meets certain graphics compatibility standards.
While it appears that everything is prepared on the hardware side for launch, Valve is clearly still not ready to commit to a price tag yet, or at least not sure of an announcement – and to make matters worse, analysts have already indicated that the console-like PC will not launch at an affordable price.
Speaking to Eurogamer amid the recent Steam Deck price hikes, analyst Mat Piscatella highlighted the difficulty in giving a definitive answer on the Steam Machine’s price, but has a prediction based on current market conditions.
“My confidence in this estimate is not high. If forced, I would say I assume a launch price of $1,200 in the US for the base version of the Steam Machine at the moment,” Piscatella said.
“This market is not behaving normally, which means that there are several external forces affecting it that do not allow high confidence forecasts,” pointing to the significant problems caused by memory shortages and external economic problems.
“I don’t think the potential cost of price increases affecting video game hardware stops at Valve, of course. We could see other price increases across both PC and console products, depending on what happens in the macro environment.”
Both Valve’s public trading records and changes to the Steam backend have given strong indications that the company has been actively working on getting the Steam Machine ready for a long time, and it’s the same trend of activity that was noted before the Steam Controller launch.
The problem is that the longer time goes by without a price announcement, the less confidence it will instill in consumers that the Steam Machine will be priced in an affordable region.
It’s hard to predict exactly when Valve will finally announce a firm release date or price, especially with how impactful the RAM crisis has been – potentially even forcing last-minute changes – but at least it’s now slated to arrive during the summer.
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