Valve is making a game cube
The Steam Machine returns in 2026, as PCs and consoles continue to converge
Valve, the PC power player behind Steam, Half-Life and Aperture Desk Job, announced three 2026-slated pieces of gaming hardware today: a new VR headset called Steam Frame, a new controller called… Steam Controller, and a tiny gaming PC called Steam Machine.
That last one is a 6” cube, not that different in size from Nintendo’s 6”x6”x4”-inch GameCube that launched back in 2001.
But it’s Microsoft’s Xbox console that more immediately came to mind with today’s news.
Valve is promoting that the Steam Machine will deliver “powerful PC gaming made easy.”
That sure sounds like a marriage of PC gaming flexibility with console-style convenience. And that’s the strategy Microsoft just deployed with its first officially-backed portable, the Windows-based ROG Xbox Ally. (Microsoft has hinted that the next Xbox console will be Windows-based too).
Valve has tried this before. A decade ago, it rolled out simplified gaming PCs called Steam Machines. They fizzled.
More recently, in early 2022, Valve launched the Steam Deck, a Switch-a-like big-screen portable that ran Steam games on the go, with support for built-in controller sticks, buttons, and trackpads.
Valve doesn’t say how many Steam Decks they’ve sold. Research firms estimate several million; nothing close to the 100+ million for Nintendo’s Switch. But the machines made enough of a mark for Valve to introduce an updated Steam Deck with a better screen in 2023.
Those Steam Decks have all done well enough for Valve to announce the Steam Machine as an upsell for Steam Deck users. The marketing copy on the web page for the 2026 Steam Machine makes it clear: “With over six times the horsepower of the Steam Deck, Steam Machine has the power to play your whole Steam library, including your favorite AAA titles.”
That targets casual PC gamers like me who are more comfortable with consoles but have been happy to play a river of PC games on a no-tinkering-required Steam Deck. Docking a current Steam Deck delivers poor performance, but my tired eyes would be happy to see the games I play on Steam Deck on my TV. Ergo, a Steam Machine would do the trick for me.
Regarding power: The Verge saw the new Steam Machine running CD Projekt’s Cyberpunk 2077 at settings that resembled the performance of a PS5 Pro.
Regarding price: Valve told Eurogamer that the Steam Machine’s price “should be in the same ballpark as consoles.” (Launch date and price will be revealed in the new year, Valve told reporters today).
Valve denies it’s trying Steam Machines again because of anything Xbox or any other console maker is up to. Here’s Valve’s Pierre-Loup Griffais answering IGN about whether consoles are evolving into gaming PCs:
“I would say that most of our thinking is not informed by what’s happening on the console side, and so I don’t know if we have many theories as to where that might be headed. But in general it seems like people seem to be recognizing that there’s quite a bit of value in a more PC-like experience and the customizability and all that, and so we’re happy to see more of these elements being embraced by platforms in general.”
So, how will this all play out?
Steam is ubiquitous, but Valve-made hardware has, so far, been niche.
Valve is unlikely to unseat console hardware makers, but the Steam Machine announcement is more evidence of industry-wide thought convergence. Lots of companies seems to be going for the idea that the games you own should run on hardware and platforms that you use and that such games and hardware should be available in whatever setting you need them to be. As a result, PCs feeling more like consoles, consoles feeling more like PCs… it all fits.
If you aren’t quite sure that the strategies around plastic game-playing boxes are converging, please remember that it was Nintendo that released a new handheld/platform this year that confidently brought PC-style mouse controls to living room gaming. Oh, and Sony just revealed a gaming monitor this week!
Item 2: In brief…
🚫 The Independent Workers Union of Great Britain said it is filing a legal claim against Rockstar Games over the recent firing of around 30 staffers.
The union said in a statement: “Despite our representation and attempts to meet with Rockstar to resolve the matter through negotiation, Rockstar have declined and persisted to terminate members of the union in a manner that is unacceptable and unlawful. “
Rockstar told Bloomberg last week that it fired the workers for leaking information. The union maintains that the workers were fired for attempting to unionize the studio’s workforce.
🤔 Sony is taking a ¥31.5 billion ($203.5 million) writedown on Bungie “in connection with Destiny 2,” reflecting a lower assessment of the studio’s value.
The company purchased Bungie for $3.5 billion in 2022, but said its game sales and user engagement have fallen short of Sony’s initial expectations. Sony partially blamed “changes in the competitive environment.”
Sony said this week that it sold 84.2 million PS5 consoles as of September 30, per a VGC tally, five years into the system’s lifespan. That’s just slightly behind the PS4’s pace. Sony CFO Lin Tao told investors this week: “We believe that the PS5 is only in the middle of [its journey].”
PS5-only Ghost of Yotei, released in early October, sold 3.3 million copies in its first month of release; Sony called it a “major hit.” (In 2023, Sony said that the PS5-only Spider-Man 2 had sold five million copies in its first 11 days of release.)
Asked by a Goldman Sachs analyst if Sony was considering revising game prices in 2026, Tao replied (as translated by Sony’s interpreter): “As for prices, I don’t have anything that I can comment.”
🎮 Bethesda gaming boss Todd Howard told GQ that “The Elder Scrolls 6 is the everyday thing” that his studio is working on now.
🎶 Pioneering former Nintendo composer Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka gave a fun interview to VGC about making music for old game hardware, why he hasn’t gone back to making game music and whether his theme for Dr. Mario was based on a Beatles song (he says no).
The interview is a month old (was in one of my many open browser tabs!) but is still a good read.
😮 Just as I was wrapping this one up…The next game in PlayStation’s Horizon series was just announced in Korea. Horizon Steel Frontiers is an MMO from NCSoft, for mobile and PC.
No PlayStation version mentioned.