Full steam ahead for Valve? Steam Machine announcement turns heads, but netizens flag THIS possible issue

PC gaming platform Steam will be entering the console space soon with the revamped Steam Machine, parent company Valve Corporation said in a recent announcement.

Rivalling the likes of long-time console gaming giants like the PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo, this new 2.6-kilogram PC-console hybrid is designed to let you play your entire Steam library on a bigger screen using a controller.

Powered by SteamOS 3, the latest version of its gaming-first operating system, Valve claims that this six-inch cube will be six times more powerful than Steam Deck, its handheld PC gaming device.

Indeed, the Steam Machine will be powered by a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU and AMD RDNA3 GPU, offering support for 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution).

The revamped Steam Machine will also have 16GB of RAM, in addition to 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM. It comes in two variants: one with a 512GB NVMe SSD, and another with a 2TB NVMe SSD.

Valve's recent announcements are also centred around the Steam Machine. The company recently announced a second-generation Steam Controller with better haptic feedback and a cleaner design (with two joysticks) resembling an Xbox One controller, as well as the Steam Frame, a VR headset that can stream games directly from a PC. The future of the Steam Deck, however, remains uncertain for now.

All eyes are on Valve now as the Steam parent has not yet announced a price for the revamped Steam Machine. The price of this PC-console hybrid is expected to be a major factor in its performance, as its prices need to compete properly with console prices now, rather than high-end gaming PC prices.

According to Tom's Guide, the specs point to a possible price of $800 for the 2TB variant, with the 512GB base variant to be much cheaper.

A Redditor noted that $600-750 would be a good price range for this variant.

However, another Redditor claimed the Steam Machine would cost around $350-400 (not specifying which variant).

Sci/Tech