Steam Machine


Steam Machine is a series of small form factor gaming computers by Valve, designed to operate SteamOS to provide a home game console-like experience. The first iteration of the Steam Machine was developed in collaboration with several computer vendors who were engaged with Valve to develop their own versions of Steam Machines for retail, offering additional options atop Valve's requirements such as dual-booting options with Windows and the ability to upgrade the computer. The second iteration is developed by Valve themselves. Consumers could digitally purchase video games on their Steam Machine through Valve's namesake Steam storefront.
To support the Steam Machine and SteamOS, Valve released the Steam Controller, a customizable game controller with touchpad-based haptic feedback, and the Steam Link, a device that allows consumers with Steam software to stream content to a monitor. Following a two-year testing period, Steam Machines and its related hardware were released on November 10, 2015. By 2018, many Steam Machine models were no longer offered on the Steam store. On November 12, 2025, Valve announced a new, singular iteration of the Steam Machine designed internally by the company, set to release in early 2026 as part of a broader Steam hardware lineup, including the next-generation Steam Controller and the Steam Frame.

First iteration

History

, a digital video games storefront offering many third-party game publishers' titles, was developed by Valve primarily for Windows and accounted for an estimated 75% of digitally purchased games on that platform in 2013. Valve has indicated displeasure with the approaches that both Microsoft and Apple are taking with their respective operating systems, limiting what applications could be run, and upon the release of Windows 8 in 2012, Valve's CEO Gabe Newell called it "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space", and discussed the possibility of promoting the open-source operating system Linux that would maintain "the openness of the platform". Newell recognized that games would need to be a significant part of the push for Linux. An official Linux client for Steam was released in July 2012, along with developer tools to help port games to the platform. Valve worked to assure that users' game libraries would be portable, including offering Steam Play whereby purchase of a title for one platform automatically allows that user to play the title on other supported platforms, and cross-platform multiplayer features.
Prior to Valve's official announcement of Steam Machines, rumors of Valve's plan to get into the hardware market developed in the industry throughout 2012, based on aspects such as the emphasis on the Linux operating system and the introduction of features like the 10-foot user interface "Big Picture Mode" for Steam which would be a necessary feature for a video game console. Valve formally announced that it was considering developing a video game console near the end of 2012. Industry journalists tentatively called the hardware a "Steam Box". It would function as a dedicated unit running Steam to allow players to launch games, media, and other functions that the client already provides. The unit's hardware was expected to be tightly controlled in a similar manner to other video game consoles. The software side was expected to remain open; for example, the unit was expected to ship with a Linux operating system, but the user would be able to install Windows if they wanted to.
Gabe Newell explained that Valve's strategy was to develop a single hardware unit themselves as the default model, internally named "Bigfoot", and work with other computer manufacturers who want to offer the same user experience but with different hardware configurations not offered by Valve's model; for example, Valve did not expect to include an optical drive due to size and cost, but this could have been a feature offered by a manufacturing partner. He also envisioned the software to enable screencast capabilities, allowing the single box to work with any monitor or television within the home. Newell stated that they would've also likely developed controllers for the unit that integrate biometrics data from the player and options for gaze tracking, citing that the involuntary responses from the player are more useful than other forms of player input such as motion control. Newell also explained that Valve was also considering the mobile device market in addition to the home console market, specifically considering laptops and tablets with their own hardware nicknamed "Littlefoot". During the Steam Dev Days in January 2014, Valve further explained that the initial target market for Steam Machines was to be placed in the living room and build a demand for support for Linux versions of games such that they can continue to work away from Windows and OS X operating systems for the future.
At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, modular computer hardware company Xi3 Corporation introduced a prototype modular PC codenamed "Piston". This unit was one of several possible designs that Valve was looking as the default hardware model for the Steam Box, and was specifically designed to run Steam on Linux and support Big Picture mode. The unit was based on Xi3's "performance level" X7A model and was slightly larger than a human hand, containing various I/O ports to connect to power, video, and data signals. Xi3 began taking pre-orders for the Piston Console at the 2013 South by Southwest Festival in March 2013, anticipating high levels of interest in the hardware with plans to release the unit for general purchase by the end of 2013. Valve clarified that although they conducted some initial exploratory work with Xi3, they have had no direct involvement with the Piston's specifications, and it was not necessarily representative of the final design for the Steam Box.
Valve officially revealed Steam Machines including the related SteamOS and Steam Controller during the last week of September 2013, with a tentative release date in mid-2014. On December 13, 2013, three hundred beta units of the Steam Machine were shipped to selected beta testers for initial testing. An additional 2000 units were provided to developers attending the Steam Dev Days event in January 2014. Valve also released an early restricted download link for their SteamOS for "Linux hackers" to try out. Based on feedback from these testers, Valve announced in May 2014 that they have pushed back the anticipated release until November 2015. The first set of Steam Machines, Steam Controllers, and Steam Links were available for consumer purchase and delivery starting on November 10, 2015.
Several gaming websites observed that by April 2018, Valve no longer offered links to the Steam Machine section on the Steam storefront, and while it could be reached directly via a URL, many of the models previously offered were no longer listed. Valve responded that they recognized that Steam Machines were not selling well and saw little user traffic, prompting them to make the change to the storefront. Valve stated they remained committed to an open gaming platform and will continue to develop the back-end technologies like SteamOS that will help such efforts.

Hardware

Unlike gaming consoles, the Steam Machine does not have a specific configuration of hardware, but a minimum specification of computer hardware components that would be needed to support the SteamOS operating system and games developed for it. Valve planned to have several different retail versions of the Steam Machine through various hardware manufacturers, that would also allow users to create their own units from components and or modify retail products with off-the-shelf parts as desired. The units were expected to arrive in 2014, with Valve expecting to announce its partners for this first line at the 2014 Consumer Electronics Show in early January.
A core part of the machine configurations was the method of providing ventilation and cooling of the CPU, GPU, and power supply; Valve engineered custom compartments within these beta units so that each of these three units has separate circulation and ventilation routes. Valve also worked with AMD to develop and certify hardware for future Steam Machines. Valve began running a beta-testing program in late 2013, selecting 300 Steam users to test their optimized prototype hardware units and initial versions of the Steam Controllers. The initial prototypes sent to testers had several configurations, which includes the following:
A handheld game console version of the Steam Machine was in development as the "SMACH Z", previously dubbed "Smach Zero" or "Steamboy" by analogy to Nintendo's Game Boy. The SMACH Z was to be released in November 2016 and was to combine a x86 Steam OS architecture based on an AMD G-Series chip with a portable form factor and input elements similar to those of a Steam controller. A Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign was launched in December 2015, and canceled a few days later with a promise of a restart. A new Kickstarter campaign was launched on October 16, 2016, with a much lower goal, and successfully ended with a total of €474,530 one month later. The processor was to be an AMD Raven Ridge V1605B, and the release date was to be sometime in April 2017. An InDemand indiegogo campaign was launched following the end of the Kickstarter campaign. As of 2016 the SMACH Z had not yet been approved by Valve as an official Steam Machine. On May 12, 2021, the Smach team announced they would be filing for bankruptcy, and that units were not likely to be shipped unless they got new investment.