The surge in tech prices has impact Valve, with the company now revisiting its shipping schedule and pricing.
Technology hardware shortages have impacted Valve. The company had planned to have release dates for its Steam Machine and Steam Frame by now, but memory shortages have caused Valve to revisit its scheduling.
Valve released a blog post on February 4, 2026 to discuss its upcoming Steam Hardware releases. The blog highlights a problem that the entire tech industry is experiencing right now: the memory and storage shortage. According to the post, Valve needs to revisit its exact shipping schedule and pricing, specifically in regards to the Steam Machine and Steam Frame.
“But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change,” the blog post reads. “We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible.”
Valve hoped to have been able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. However, the company still plans to release the products in the first half of 2026.
The memory shortage has been impacting just about all areas of the tech industry. Qualcomm (QCOM) issued a cautionary guidance in its upcoming quarter due to the memory shortage. Qualcomm President/CEO Cristiano Amon noted that the near-term handsets outlook is impact by the industry-wide supply constraint. This constraint is due to the continued investment in AI data centres.
Gamers have also felt the squeeze in supply. Cryptocurrency mining and investment in artificial intelligence saw inflated GPU prices and a shortage in supply. Now this shortage has seeped over into storage solutions. Anyone that was considering an upgrade to a PC is looking at hefty prices for basic parts.
There had been hope that perhaps the Steam Machine might pose another cheaper option for anyone looking to get into PC gaming or pivot away from desktop systems. But the RAM shortage is certainly causing concern for anyone trying to operate within a budget.
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