Valve’s Steam Machine is still MIA, but SteamOS gets ‘initial support’
Summary created by Smart Answers AI
In summary:
- PCWorld reports that Valve’s Steam Machine, a PC running Linux, is facing delays until 2026 due to component supply issues and a RAM crisis.
- The SteamOS 3.8.0 preview now includes initial support for the upcoming Steam Machine hardware, as well as improved compatibility for Intel and AMD platforms and portable devices.
- Valve has not announced pricing or confirmed a firm release date for the Steam Machine, leaving key details uncertain for potential buyers.
Valve’s Steam Machine might be the most anticipated gaming hardware this year… if it even arrives this year. Amid the RAM crisis, the Linux PC has been delayed and Valve can only hope to release it in 2026. But on the software side, SteamOS is gearing up to support upcoming hardware.
This is what the latest preview build of SteamOS, version 3.8.0, reveals. “Initial support for upcoming Steam Machine hardware” sits right at the top of the list of changes, above the more pedestrian tweaks and improvements. This is Linux-based SteamOS – not the Steam desktop program you’re probably more familiar with – so it makes sense that it would be. need a lot of preparation work before a hardware launch.
Other changes include updated versions of the Steam Deck BIOS and “improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms”, as well as various support improvements for other portable devices from Lenovo, Asus, OneXPlayer, GPD and Anbernic. Exactly how many of these will make it out of the SteamOS preview and full release depends, of course, on further testing and user feedback.
When it was announced in 2025, Valve planned to have a date and price by now. But with 32GB of RAM and an 8GB GPU supplied by AMD, at a time when both of these components are becoming very difficult for manufacturers to procure as “AI” data centers gobble up all the supply, Valve has moved to a much wider release window of “this year.” Price, which is the most crucial element of the Steam Machine’s success and its chances of competing with consoles, remains a huge and unanswered question.
