Valve announce a new Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame VR headset – and I’ve played them

Dispatches from a three-pronged hardware assault

Ye gads, there’s 3 of them. You whitethorn person heard that a Valve hardware announcement was connected the cards, but the Steam custodians’ biggest metal-and-circuits uncover since the Steam Deck really concerns a powerfulness trio: a caller Steam Machine, a caller Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame hybrid VR headset. They're each official, and each coming (pricing and nonstop dates TBA) successful aboriginal 2026.

I’ve had immoderate prime hands-on clip with them myself, having been mysteriously summoned to Valve HQ precocious past period (flying/accommodating connected our ain dime, earlier anyone gets clever). Full thoughts tin beryllium recovered successful the links below, and I’ll accidental this up front: each 3 person a wide Steam Deck influence, beryllium it the plan language, the worth of Proton-aided crippled compatibility, oregon simply the pleasance of a prime thumbstick. If you liked the handheld then... well, you mightiness not necessarily similar the Steam Machine, Controller, oregon Frame, but you’ll person already work the shorthand connected wherever they’re coming from.

• Hands-on with the caller Steam Machine, Valve’s quadrate changeable astatine SteamOS PC redemption
• Valve’s caller Steam Controller aims to entice a broader tract of PC players, which I fearfulness already includes me
• Valve’s Steam Frame is real, and wants to beryllium the past VR headset you'll ever buy

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Stay tuned for much features and insights coming aboriginal contiguous and this week, based connected interviews with Valve’s in-house designers and engineers. In the meantime, let’s bash immoderate specs lists present arsenic well. Why not, eh. The Steam Machine is acceptable to beryllium Valve’s astir almighty in-house hardware portion frankincense far, leaning connected a discrete AMD GPU to tally modern games astatine upscaled 4K, portion the redesigned Steam Controller sacrifices immoderate of the archetypal model’s idiosyncrasies successful pursuit of amended all-roundedness. The Steam Frame is possibly some the astir ambitious and the riskiest: its modular design, groundbreaking enactment for Steam games connected ARM hardware, and operation of prime PC VR with standalone headset play each amusement large promise, but not the benignant that seemed imminently fulfillable astatine the clip of my preview session.

Steam Machine (2026) specs

• CPU: 6-core AMD Zen 4
• GPU: Semi-custom AMD RDNA 3 with 28 Compute Units, 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
• RAM: 16GB (not including VRAM)
• SSD: 512GB oregon 2TB
• Ports: 1x microSD, 2x USB3, 2x USB2, 1x USB Type C, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x Ethernet
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth, integrated Steam Controller receiver
• OS: SteamOS

Steam Controller (2026) specs

• Thumbsticks: 2x TMR magnetic thumbsticks
• Trackpads: 2x capacitive trackpads with haptics
• Connectivity: 2.4GHz (over Steam Controller Puck), Bluetooth, USB
• Gyro controls: Yes, with capacitive ‘Grip sense’ sensor
• Battery life: 35h
• Compatibility: SteamOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, Ios/Android with Steam Link

Steam Frame specs

• SoC: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• RAM: 16GB
• Lenses: Pancake optics, LCD, 2160x2160 per eye
• Field of View: 110 degrees
• Refresh rate: 72-120Hz (144Hz successful Experimental mode)
• Tracking: 4x outer cameras for controller and headset tracking, 2x interior cameras for oculus tracking
• Audio: Dual talker drivers (per ear), integrated into headstrap
• SSD: 256GB oregon 1TB
• Ports: 1x microSD, 1x PCIe enlargement larboard with camera passthrough
• Wireless: Dual Wi-Fi 7/Wi-Fi 6E
• Battery: Rechageable 21.6Whr Li-On
• OS: SteamOS
• Controllers: Full 6-DOF tracking and IMU support, accepted gamepad inputs, capacitive digit tracking, haptic feedback, AA batteries (40h life)

Again, there’s nary factual merchandise day oregon pricing for these yet, though Valve technologist Jeremy Selan told maine that the portion the Steam Frame specifically would beryllium a "premium" VR headset. it'll inactive apt beryllium priced "less than [the] Index." That's the Valve Index headset, the afloat kit of which remains astatine the aforesaid £919 / $999 pricepoint it launched astatine successful 2019. We'll study immoderate further details up of merchandise adjacent year.