A couple of days ago, I wrote an article about how researchers discovered an "AI stigma" affecting Steam games that disclose the use of AI during development. For me, the most shocking piece of data revealed that established studios with a positive track record see a "catastrophic" 40% to 60% drop in sales when they use AI.

This stat, as well as others proposed in the research by Ross Burton at Game Oracle, raised a big question that our readers have been discussing in the original post's comment section: Is the perceived AI stigma warranted?

Now, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who has never been shy about targeting competing PC games storefront Steam, has waded into the same debate.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer, Sweeney offered his opinion about Valve's AI disclosure policy. As Sweeney sees it, these disclosures are a "Scarlet Letter" that results in a "hater community trying to kill the game."

It's a rather harsh comparison, but I'm finding it hard to disagree.

Epic's CEO makes some good points about Steam's AI disclosure policy

Let me preface this: Epic Games does not have a strict AI disclosure policy on games that it sells.

As Sweeney explains, his specific grievance with Steam's AI disclosure policy is that developers who want maximum visibility for their game are essentially required to list it on Steam, such is the power and visibility of Valve's storefront.

When that game is listed on Steam, any AI used during development must be disclosed and displayed on the game's Steam page. As noted, Sweeney sees this as something that can lead to sabotage by those opposed to AI.

Sweeney explains that this method is "irresponsible of Valve" and that "it makes it much, much harder for a game developer to have a chance of success." Developers are essentially stuck in between two poor choices: not using tools that speed up productivity or using tools that result is a stigma against your product.

The choice that Sweeney highlights here is exactly what the Game Oracle research piece set out to uncover. Sweeney isn't defending AI just because he likes AI. He's defending its use by smaller studios that wouldn't otherwise be able to survive.

The Fortnite example explains a lot

Sweeney unsurprisingly understands that some games fail just because they're junk. Like the Game Oracle study, he posits that it's becoming ever more difficult for developers to compete with massive studios that have seemingly unending budgets.

AI tools are perceived as a "great equalizer" in this case, and without them, Sweeney predicts a future where those smaller studios simply die off without receiving aid from AI. "There will always be the exceptions," says Sweeney, but it's the economics of the gaming market that are driving his thoughts.

Oversimplification of how AI is used isn't helping developers

Sweeney definitely knows how games get made, and he notes that a lot of what developers do all day can be considered "drudge work." He notes that at Epic Games, the most useful implementation of AI is to offload those types of tasks, leaving time for more important software and creative development.

This is where there's a noticeable gap between developers and gamers. Sweeney acknowledges that there's some legitimate anger about AI stemming from bad practices early on.

Larian, the studio behind Baldur's Gate 3, is used as an example of how this situation can play out.

Larian was using AI to eliminate drudge work and to create early concepts, but gamers largely didn't accept the nuance. They saw AI, they cried foul, and Larian immediately backtracked.

Do I care if a studio creating games as good as Larian does uses AI to speed up productivity in the early stages of development? Not really. Let me know in the comments below if you disagree.

Epic's CEO has his own stake in AI development

I think Sweeney gets a lot right in this interview, especially surrounding the economic asymmetry that many studios have to overcome by using AI. I'm also on board with the idea that AI disclosure often harms the studios that can least afford a failure.

It's well worth noting that there's some background tension regarding Sweeney and AI. Unreal Engine, which is an Epic product, is used by countless studios. Unreal Engine 6, the latest version, includes deep AI integration, and those AI tools are being pitched to any developer who will listen.

Bottom line? The more accepted AI is in game development, the better off Sweeney's UE6 will do.

My final thoughts on AI use in game development

I honestly can't say if Steam's forced AI disclosures are the correct way forward. I value transparency, and in the current climate, I can imagine a ton of AI witch hunts happening if there wasn't a place where you could reliably check if AI was used.

Sweeney makes good points about AI's reputation problem and how AI disclosures mark certain games for failure, and I wonder if clearer information about how AI is used would help at all.

Let me know what you think about the AI disclosure situation. Is it hurting games that would otherwise be a huge success? Is it rightfully causing pushback against games? Sound off in the comments section below!

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AI and gaming are becoming an inseparable match. Whether it's AI used in modern graphics rendering or AI used in actual game development, I've stated several times that I don't think they'll be separated anytime soon.

The rise of AI has been causing hiccups for global PC game markets like Steam from the very start. In January 2024, Steam owner Valve announced that its storefront would now contain AI disclosures from developers. If AI were used in development, you'd be able to clearly see it on the game's page.

Since then, you've probably noticed a whole lot of Steam pages sporting that little AI blurb describing how exactly AI was used during development. The phenomenon, of course, begs the question: Is the use of AI in game development hurting sales?

According to research performed by Ross Burton, PhD, Head of Product and Data at Game Oracle (via PCGamer), the use of AI does harm sales and, beyond cold hard cash, it also hurts a game's reputation.

Burton discovered that approximately 21% of games released on Steam in 2025 (pre-November) contained a disclosure for some sort of AI use. I can't help but assume that number has only gone up since then.

Steam's recent Next Fest event, showcasing countless new games set to arrive in the near future, was rife with games clearly created using AI, some less innocuous than others.

Deciphering Steam's numbers tell an important story

Steam doesn't disclose how many copies specific games sell; that's up to the developer to know, and to share only if they like. However, Steam sales can be approximated by the number of reviews a title receives, and as Game Oracle points out, it's a proxy method that's used across the industry.

Game Oracle's initial research, even at a surface level, is eye-opening. It studied almost 10,000 Steam releases between January and October 2025, discovering that games disclosing AI use averaged just 4 reviews in the first post-launch month compared to 7 reviews for games without AI.

Almost 20% of games with AI disclosure received no reviews, compared to 15% for non-AI games. Scores were also biased in titles with at least 100 reviews, with AI games hitting an average score of 84.6% compared to 88.3% for non-AI games.

AI games don't receive as much attention as non-AI games

Game Oracle built a causal statistical model to control for elements like a specific developer's prior experience, publisher backing (if any), genre, and release date. Games that fell into similar groupings were then compared to each other to prevent outside factors from interfering.

In this scenario, games that disclosed the use of AI received about 53% fewer reviews than non-AI games. So, if two games were released around the same time, from developers with similar levels of experience, with similar backing, and of a similar genre, non-AI games would theoretically receive 100 reviews while an AI game would receive 47.

That's a huge gap, and one that isn't easy to discredit.

Established studios are being punished harder for using AI in game development

There is, of course, some nuance to the study's findings. Game Oracle performed a sensitivity analysis to account for unmeasured factors like marketing costs, raw talent, and pure luck.

It was discovered that inexperienced developers with no marketing budget, who likely turned to AI simply because of a lack of other resources, saw hardly any negative impact on sales despite the AI disclosure. These games were almost certainly going to struggle even without the use of AI.

It's a different story for the more established studios with an existing following and previous titles. Game Oracle found that the use of AI by these studios resulted in a significant 40% to 60% drop in sales.

👉 Crimson Desert developers apologize for the use of generative AI

That's a huge difference. AI stigma seems to hit competent developers with a lot to lose the hardest, and I'm not sure that game studios are ready to accept it.

What the AI stigma means for gamers

I don't think that gamers are actively boycotting AI games. If I had to guess, I'd say that the majority of Steam users don't ever check for AI disclosures and instead direct their disposable income towards positive reviews.

Games like The Finals and Suck Up! are mentioned in the study as examples of successes that used AI. Those successes are counterbalanced by Black Ops 7 and Jurassic World Evolution 3 as examples of brands that were harmed by the use of AI.

The research comes to a point with Burton stating that he doesn't know exactly what is causing the negative impact on AI games.

One interesting line that stands out to me is that AI is often "correlated with other decisions that lead to a poorly crafted game." Burton suggests that the penalty for using AI might be as much about how it's used as how much it's used.

Burton wraps up the research with a reminder that AI isn't something to be avoided: "Approach AI with caution. Use it gracefully. It is not a replacement for hard work, it's just there to lighten the load."

Do you agree? Let me know in the comments section below!

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Eight months after first revealing the compact console-like Steam Machine gaming PC to the world last year, its architect Valve has finally announced the device's price and details about its release. If you were holding out hope that it would be fairly affordable and widely available, well...I have bad news.

The cheapest model of the living room-friendly gaming PC — one that doesn't come with Valve's new Steam Controller and only has 512GB of storage instead of 2TB — is a whopping $1,049, with more expensive options climbing to $1,128, $1,349, and $1,428 price points.

Cost isn't the only debilitating complication to contend with if you're interested in a Steam Machine, however. Supply is also a huge issue, as Valve has been forced to implement signups for a reservation queue due to very limited stock. And with Steam Controller reservations extending into 2027, it's hard to imagine fresh batches of Steam Machines will come much faster, if at all.

What's going on here — why is the Steam Machine so prohibitively expensive, and why does Valve have such a limited stock of the systems? If you've followed tech even loosely in recent months, I'm sure your assumption is that ongoing AI-driven RAM shortages are to blame. And you're right.

Valve addressed the situation in the blog post it revealed the Steam Machine's pricing and availability in, explaining that "The price at which we sell our hardware is a direct result of the cost of" the components it needs to make it, and that "our original goal for the price of Steam Machine is no longer viable" due to the scarcity and skyrocketing cost of memory and storage.

"We felt like we had a good understanding of how those costs might change over time when we first started sourcing them for Steam Machine back in 2023. That understanding was born from the many years of data we all have about the evolution of PC hardware prices — primarily, that it tends to get cheaper over time as new technology arrives," the manufacturer wrote.

"Over the past year or so, that has changed quickly and significantly, most visibly for RAM and storage components," it continued. "The overall effect is that our original goal for the price of Steam Machine is no longer viable. So the prices we're sharing today reflect the state of the world for manufacturing; or, more accurately, it reflects the price of the components as we've secured them over the past 6 months."

Valve added that "Price wasn't the only thing impacted by all of this: availability was as well. There were periods where we found we couldn't source some of our components at all, at any price." This, it says, "has impacted the number of units we've been able to produce for launch."

In the end, I feel that both Valve and customers are in a total no-win situation here, as the former can't afford to lower prices without making selling the Steam Machine untenable, and many of the latter are unable to afford the device due to its heightened cost. I hate to say it, but the Steam Machine just seems like an awesome device that came out at the worst time possible.

Are you considering getting a Steam Machine despite how expensive it is and how hard it will be to secure an order for one? I'm curious to hear from you, so let me know in the comments and vote in our poll.

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Since Valve first announced its console-like, living room-friendly gaming PC the Steam Machine last November, the wait to find out how much it will cost and when exactly it will come out has been a long one. Before now, the manufacturer only confirmed that its launch for Summer 2026 was still planned, with the ongoing RAM crisis caused by heavy AI investment significantly complicating Valve's supply and pricing process.

At long last, however, the firm has finally announced how much the device will cost and when it will manage to start shipping it out to customers. In a new blog post, Valve revealed that there are two different Steam Machine SKUs — a 512GB unit and one with 2TB of storage — you'll be able to purchase, with each also offered in a bundle that includes the new $99 Steam Controller gamepad.

That means you have four options total, all of which I've listed below with their prices:

• Steam Machine 512GB: $1,049 USD /  1,509 CAD /  1,039 EUR /  879 GBP / 1,609 AUD /  4,389 PLN
• Steam Machine 512GB + Steam Controller: $1,128 USD / 1,628 CAD / 1,108 EUR / 938 GBP / 1,728 AUD / 4,698 PLN
• Steam Machine 2TB: $1,349 USD / 1,919 CAD /  1,359 EUR /  1,149 GBP /  2,109 AUD /  5,739 PLN
• Steam Machine 2TB + Steam Controller: $1,428 USD / 2,038 CAD / 1,428 EUR / 1,208 GBP / 2,228 AUD / 6,048 PLN

Note that in addition to the standard black faceplate, you also have the option of getting a red fabric or a solid walnut front cover for the 2TB version of the Steam Machine.

Due to memory and storage shortages severely impacting component supply, Valve won't have as many Steam Machines available for gamers to purchase as it would like to. Therefore, it's implementing a reservation system similar to the one it's using for the Steam Controller, though it's going to work a bit differently.

From now until Thursday, June 25th at 10 a.m. PT, you can sign up for the reservation list of the model you want on the Steam Machine's official store page. Then, Valve will close the list and randomize it to determine the reservation queue order.

Once the order has been finalized, you'll receive an email that either confirms you're in the reservation queue and will be emailed when there's a Steam Machine available for you to order, or that you're on the waitlist and will be notified when you're added to the queue and more units become available.

Valve says the first Steam Machine orders will begin to ship out on Monday, June 29, which is precisely one week away from the time of writing.

Some final things to note: trying to reserve a Steam Machine requires having a Steam account in good standing as well as a Steam purchase in your account history before April 27. Also, you can't change the model you reserved after signing up, though you can sign up for multiple different versions and bundles of the Steam Machine.

If you're aiming to try and get your hands on the device, good luck — I have no doubt that you're going to need it!

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Some people, myself included until I saw this news, may not have known that AMD seemingly revealed FSR4 for older Radeon graphics cards last month. Now, just a month later, it appears Valve appears to be adding a version of AMD's FSR4 technology to Steam and Proton, which could theoretically allow Steam Machine and potentially Steam Deck users to effectively upgrade FSR3-supported games to FSR4.

For those unfamiliar, FSR is AMD's answer to Nvidia's DLSS. It's an upscaling technology that allows games to be rendered at a lower resolution, such as 720p, before being upscaled to a higher resolution like 1080p. The goal is to deliver a sharper image while reducing the workload on the GPU.

It's not just about image quality, either. Because the game is being rendered at a lower internal resolution, FSR can also improve frame rates, making demanding games run more smoothly without requiring more powerful hardware.

What's particularly exciting about the prospect of FSR4 coming to Steam Machine and, hopefully, Steam Deck is that it could address some of the most common complaints surrounding FSR3, including ghosting, shimmering, and visual artifacts, while still delivering the performance benefits that make upscaling technologies so appealing in the first place.

Additionally, according to Brad Lynch on X (formerly Twitter), this version of FSR4 has been tweaked by Valve and differs from AMD's own implementation. What exactly Valve has changed remains a mystery for now, at least until users can get their hands on it and start digging through the details themselves.

I have to admit, I've always been a little wary of the industry's growing reliance on upscaling technologies. Ideally, I'd prefer games to be optimized well enough to run smoothly on weaker hardware straight out of the box. That said, the reality is that modern games are becoming increasingly demanding, and tools like FSR can provide a meaningful boost to both image quality and performance.

Of all the ways AI is being integrated into gaming, upscaling is probably one of the easiest for me to get behind. If this implementation really can bring FSR4 improvements to a wider range of hardware, that's a win for players. Hopefully, it also finds its way to Steam Deck and isn't reserved solely for Valve's upcoming Steam Machine.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments below, and don't forget to take part in our poll!

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Thanks to the rise of AI and its insatiable hunger for every piece of spare silicon that the tech industry can throw at it, the price of just about every electronic device and accessory on the market has skyrocketed — both to make and to buy, in the era of the RAM and storage crisis.

Many companies are struggling to secure the components needed for their products as a result, and one that's had a particularly difficult time doing so is Valve. The Steam maker is in the midst of preparing to attempt to launch the console-like Steam Machine gaming PC this summer while also doing its best to keep the Steam Deck and its new $99 Steam Controller in stock.

It's a task that's stretched Valve's supply quite thin, leading to a controversial Steam Deck price hike and the implementation of a reservation queue for Steam Controller orders. And now, in a new update, the manufacturer has announced some Steam Controller reservations may not be fulfilled until 2027.

Specifically, Valve is now organizing Steam Controller reservations into three estimated order windows "to keep it simple" — all of which have been listed below:

• By September 2026
• By December 2026
• In 2027 (with additional information on specific timing to come)

Valve notes that you'll see which order window your reservation is in when visiting the Steam Controller page. If you had a reservation placed before today, your order may come in September or December later this year. Those who make reservations after this update will have their order fulfilled in 2027, according to current estimates.

It also says once your place in the queue comes up, you'll be emailed the option to purchase a Steam Controller and will have 72 hours to do so. If you don't finish your order before three days pass, you'll lose your chance.

"We have no plans to stop making Steam Controller," the company wrote. "But as we look at the current demand compared to how many we know we can make by the end of the year, we want to manage expectations as much as we can with regards to when folks can expect to receive their order."

It's unfortunate that the Steam Controller is proving so difficult to get your hands on, but the good news is that it's reviewing well, which means it will be worth the time, effort, and money for many.

We gave it a 4.5/5 score in our review, writing that "It's a feature-rich joypad that justifies its price point, with the charging puck being both a genuine convenience and a unique quirk." Its other highlights include gyro aiming, haptic touchpads, and TMR sticks, with the only major downside being incompatibility with Xbox on PC without third-party workarounds.

How are you feeling about Valve's new Steam Controller? Do you plan on engaging with the reservation system to try and get one despite the long wait into 2027? I'm curious, so please let me know in the comments and in the poll below.

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I feel like it's been years since Valve first announced its new Steam Machine; alas, it's only been about 7 months since we first saw the new gaming PC expected to take on living room consoles.

There has been plenty of discourse around the Steam Machine in that time, especially in regard to what pricing will look like, considering how expensive RAM and storage have become since Valve initially unveiled the device.

The latest leak, arriving earlier today via an X post from @Olrak29_ (via Videocardz), involves Geekbench 6 CPU scores for the Steam Machine's custom AMD 1772 processor.

These are actually not the first leaked Geekbench scores to appear online. In August 2025, some numbers showed up with the Steam Machine running on Windows.

What makes these new results particularly interesting is that they come from a system running Linux, presumably Valve's own SteamOS that's set to be the launch OS. As you can see, Valve's custom AMD chip actually performed better in Windows than in Linux, at least in a couple of instances.

If these results, whether in Windows or Linux, seem a bit wimpy, it's because they are.

We immediately injected the new Steam Machine Geekbench results into our CPU performance graph alongside gaming handhelds featuring the likes of AMD's Ryzen Z1/Z2 Extreme, Intel's Core Ultra 7 258V, and the custom AMD chip in the Steam Deck.

As you can see, the Steam Machine's custom AMD 1772 CPU isn't setting any records, falling firmly in the middle of the pack.

👉 Valve's new Steam Machine is just a PC at heart — here's how to build your own and how much it will cost

Its best Geekbench 6 CPU results on Linux come out to a 2,334 single-core score and a 7,392 multi-core score. In comparison, the AMD Ryzen AI Z2 Extreme in the Xbox Ally X hit a 2,813 single-core score and a 12,789 multi-core score in our testing.

This is but one synthetic benchmark test, and it's also only covering the CPU side, leaving the custom GPU's performance unknown.

What do the Steam Machine's new Geekbench CPU scores actually mean?

The Steam Machine's CPU is definitely trailing some chips that are already on the market, but context matters a lot in this scenario.

AMD's custom chip for the Steam Machine features 6 cores, 12 threads, and a boost clock up to 4.86GHz. The Z1/Z2 Extreme and Core Ultra 7 chips feature 8 cores running at a higher TDP, which makes a big difference, especially in compact devices.

So, yes, the Steam Machine might not have the strongest CPU power, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to perform worse than premium gaming handhelds.

Is the Steam Machine's perceived CPU performance gap a real issue?

The Steam Machine is expected to arrive with an RDNA 3 GPU featuring 8GB of VRAM. Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen any leaks in terms of the Steam Machine's GPU performance, but there are some hard facts to note.

The Steam Machine's GPU is a far cry from the integrated chips in gaming handhelds that share system memory, and it's very likely that the boosted GPU performance will completely annul any CPU deficit.

👉 4 reasons why SteamOS is quietly winning over PC gamers — and why Windows won't be dethroned any time soon

Where the CPU performance gap will most likely be felt is in huge open-world games that require a ton of processing and physics calculations. In the same vein, games will be especially hard on the CPU when attempting to hit high frame rates at high resolutions.

Is there any cause for panic regarding the Steam Machine's CPU performance?

I highly doubt that the Steam Machine's leaked CPU benchmark scores are anything to be concerned about.

The performance level could be felt in some edge cases where games are CPU-bound, but otherwise I expect the superior GPU to pull a ton of weight. This is especially true considering the Steam Machine is intended to be a living room device running on common TV resolutions and frame rates.

Valve has confirmed that its Steam Machine is still "shipping this summer" despite supply chain issues and rising hardware prices. There's still no word on pricing.

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This news came as a bit of a surprise this morning, but upon further inspection, it was probably only a matter of time.

Today, Valve confirmed (via SteamDB) that it will no longer offer new stocks of Steam Gift Cards at a retail level. Digital Gift Cards sold directly by Valve will still be available, however.

Valve suggested it is doing this due to how physical gift cards in general are being used to facilitate scams across the world, particularly targeting the vulnerable.

"Can I purchase Steam Gift Cards at retailers?" The help site reads, "Yes, but only for a limited time."

"We introduced Steam Gift Cards to retail stores back in 2012, and added the digital program in 2017. Unfortunately, scammers use gift cards from major brands like Steam to take advantage of all people all over the world.

We’ve responded to gift card scams over the years by taking a number of actions to protect customers, including: Working with retailers, working with law enforcement, making changes to the cards, including adding a prominent scam warning, limiting redemption to be in the currency of your Steam wallet, limiting availability of cards, removing cards from sale when we observed abnormal activity.

As we have continued to put more and more restrictions in place, scammers have adapted. They continue to have an impact on Steam customers and other unsuspecting individuals. So we've made the difficult decision to end the Steam Gift Card program at retail stores."

Valve confirmed that any existing Steam Gift Cards out there will continue to be honored, but they will no longer be restocked once the current allocation is sold through. However, Valve says it will continue to sell Digital Gift Cards, as they are less susceptible to these types of scams.

You might've seen viral clips of scammers being scammed from the likes of Kitboga and others. These scammers typically target and exploit elderly and vulnerable victims into buying up and sharing gift card codes from all types of retailers. Gift card codes can be incredibly difficult to trace, and can in fact be used for all types of money laundering, particularly when they're attached to retailers as versatile as Amazon, for example.

Valve is likely to be the first of many to phase out these types of cards as a result of the scams. I've reached out to Microsoft to see if it, too, will be exploring removing these cards from sale.

Valve says it expects stocks of its Steam Gift Cards to remain through towards the end of 2026, but after that, they'll be gone forever.

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I’m not sure whether gamers should consider themselves lucky or not, but Valve has confirmed that, yes, the Steam Machine and Steam Frame are still shipping this summer. In a new blog post, Valve provided some additional details:

“Today we are expanding the Verified program to include Steam Machine and Steam Frame, both of which are shipping this summer. As with Steam Deck Verified, the goal is to help customers understand the out-of-box experience for a given title on these new devices, and how smoothly a game will run with no user work or configuration required.”

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know. Valve is still being rather coy about the pricing of both the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. With the recent Steam Deck price increases, I think many of us, myself included, aren't expecting the Steam Machine to come in at anything less than over $1,000. The Steam Frame may be a little easier on the wallet, but at this point, it’s hard to even guess.

It’s genuinely tough to see how challenging the hardware market has become right now. Xbox CEO Asha Sharma recently spoke about rising memory costs in an interview with Bloomberg, where she said: “Well with AI memory and storage costs are going up 2.75x rather than 50% down.”

That highlights just how widespread the issue has become across the industry. As a gamer, it’s honestly a little depressing. I remember when you could pick up an Xbox 360 or PS3 for significantly less than their launch prices a few years into their lifecycle. These days, you’re lucky to find a modern console selling for the same price it launched at.

I still hope Valve can find ways to keep the cost of its upcoming hardware as reasonable as possible, but the broader market trends suggest that won’t be easy. With all that said, let me know your thoughts.

Are you excited about Valve’s upcoming hardware, or are potential price concerns putting you off? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Steam’s latest hardware survey for May 2026 is here, and it paints an interesting picture. Of course, we’ve covered hardware surveys before, including periods where it genuinely looked like Linux was gaining serious ground.

To be fair, that growth was understandable. Microsoft continued to drop the ball with Windows on multiple occasions, leading some users, albeit not many, to give Linux a try and see what it had to offer.

In the latest hardware survey results, Windows 11 saw an increase of 2.02%, bringing its total share of Steam users to 69.76%. Windows as a whole now accounts for 93.85% of all Steam users.

Turning to Linux, which has made impressive strides over the past few months, the operating system peaked at 5.33% back in March before dipping to 4.52% in April. Now, in May, Linux accounts for 3.99% of Steam users.

That's still well above the below-2% figures Linux was stuck at for a long time, but it's hard to ignore the fact that its share has declined month after month since reaching that March peak.

I’m a strong believer in healthy competition, and seeing Windows fumble over the past few months has created an opportunity for Linux to become more well-known. That's ultimately a good thing for the industry.

Whether it's Microsoft focusing more heavily on gaming performance to compete with Linux, something I'm sure most gamers would appreciate, especially ahead of Project Helix, Xbox's PC and console hybrid, or improvements to the overall user experience and a gradual pullback from some of its AI ambitions, it's hard to imagine we'd be seeing such a noticeable shift in tone from Microsoft without meaningful competition pushing it forward.

Or perhaps I'm alone in thinking that, which is perfectly fine too. Either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts. How do you feel about Linux losing ground on Steam while Windows 11 continues to gain traction?

Personally, I've had a pretty miserable experience every time I've tried Linux, which is a real shame because I can absolutely see the appeal. Still, let me know what you think in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

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Earlier this year, the ongoing RAM shortage caused by the tech industry's ravenous, never-ending demand for memory to fuel the AI craze began to seriously cut into the supply needed for handheld gaming systems like the Steam Deck, resulting in the stock of Valve's beloved device rapidly drying up.

The firm promised its customers that it was "working very hard on" getting the Steam Deck available again about a month ago, in late April, explaining that it was seeking to partner with as many different RAM manufacturers as possible to help contend with shortages. Now, that restock has finally come...but it's come at a cost. A monetary one — and one that's unfortunately been passed down to buyers like you and I.

Indeed, Valve announced a major price increase for the Steam Deck alongside the news that it's once again available to purchase on Wednesday morning. The Steam Deck OLED 512GB is now $789 (up from $549), while the Steam Deck OLED 1TB is now $949 (up from $649).

"Steam Deck OLED is back in stock, with a price increase for both models due to rising memory and storage costs," the company wrote in its blog post. "Steam Deck itself hasn't changed; these new prices reflect the current state of component costs and other global logistical challenges across the industry as a whole. We’ll keep you updated if anything changes."

Those are price hikes of $240 and $300, respectively — about 44% and 46% in percentages. That's a pretty brutal increase for a device that's typically seen as the best budget-friendly handheld gaming PC, and reflects just how difficult it is for manufacturers like Valve to sell hardware at a profit during the memory crisis.

Sadly, now that Valve no longer creates the original LCD Steam Deck and exclusively makes the OLED models, there's no longer a way to get a new Steam Deck from Valve directly without paying a pretty penny. You can certainly try your luck on resale sites like eBay, but prices there have shot up, too.

Ultimately, this price jump significantly reduces the Steam Deck's value proposition and majorly shrinks one of the advantages it had over competing handhelds like the ROG Ally, the Legion Go 2, and the Xbox Ally. I don't think we'll see the cost go back to normal any time soon, either; AI datacenters are projected to hog 70% of all RAM this year.

The situation is frustrating, but from Valve's perspective, I imagine the only way it could sell the Steam Deck for less is if it did so at a loss — something it doesn't want to do, and may not be able to afford to do while it's also trying to gear up to sell its delayed upcoming console-like Steam Machine PC.

In the end, I suppose we should be glad that there are even Steam Decks to buy at all, even if they're ridiculously expensive now. If you really want one and have the money to afford it, you can buy it on the official Steam Deck store page.

Do you think the Steam Deck is worth buying now that it's gotten a big price hike? Share your opinion in the comments and in our poll.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

I'd challenge you to find a PC gamer who doesn't know Valve and its contributions to the hobby, and I'm confident you'd struggle. While it has made the most significant splash on the software side with Steam, it has dabbled in hardware with the high successes of the Steam Deck and the subterranean missteps of its first Steam Controller.

Now, it's trying again, and gamers are lining up in droves for a chance to buy Valve's revised Steam Controller in 2026. That includes me, because I knew I was going to spend my own cash on this new attempt, based solely on its early images and descriptions. So, is it good, bad, or somewhere in between? Here's what I think of mine after a week's worth of gameplay.

How much does the Steam Controller cost?

Valve's Steam Controller launched at $99 via Steam, and, so far, remains the same price. In the United Kingdom, that amounts to £85, including sales tax. At launch, the controller was available on a first-come, first-served basis until it sold out. Now, in May 2026, you'll need a Steam account to place a reservation before you have a chance to buy one.

Delivery times vary by region and the time of the order. I placed my Steam Controller order in the UK on May 4, when it became available, and it arrived from its European shipping source in the Netherlands after 6 working days. Valve's initial delivery estimate was 3–5 working days, increasing to 6–10 a few hours after its release.

Is the Steam Controller any good?

My initial hands-on impressions of the Steam Controller were good, as it sits comfortably in my hands with a familiar weight of 0.64 lbs (292 g). I usually play with Microsoft's official Xbox controllers that were bundled with my Series X|S consoles, each weighing 0.63 lbs (287 g) with AA batteries or 0.52 lbs (240 g) without them if I'm using a permanently connected USB-C cable.

Despite the placement of the prominent touchpads, my palms don't accidentally graze them when I use the analog sticks or face buttons. It's admittedly something I was concerned about when I first saw this design in the Steam Controller's official reveal, so it's a relief to discover there's no issue for me here.

Otherwise, my middle and ring fingers naturally rest on the rear buttons, which feel better in this bended circular form than the rectangular equivalents on Valve's still-excellent Steam Deck handheld. The Steam Controller's d-pad is less "clicky" than that of an Xbox Series X|S controller, but there's still a firm response in its more muted pushes.

The Steam Controller's face buttons all feel about the same as the Xbox controller that I'm used to, but they have a quieter response. That's a recurring theme throughout the unit, and only the rear buttons produce a distinct sound when used. Both shoulder bumpers offer slightly weaker resistance than on the Xbox side, but they're quiet and responsive enough.

It's a similar story with the triggers, which feel slightly shallower and less resistant than my Xbox controller, but not to the point where they seem lackluster or detrimental to gameplay. Even the analog sticks follow this pattern, pushed around with marginally less resistance but offset with smoother movement, no doubt helped by the drift-proof TMR technology underneath.

Matte plastic coats the Steam Controller with a consistent pattern, which feels familiar (again) to the Xbox joypad's front side. However, Microsoft arguably takes the lead with the rougher finish on the rear of its modern first-party controller. It's only my pinky fingers that rest against these bare sections, but it's a noticeable difference.

The standout feature for the Steam Controller is the "puck", which serves dual responsibilities as a wireless receiver and charging station for the joypad. It's detachable from the 5 ft (1.5 m) USB-C cable that Valve includes in the box, meaning I could leave it attached to my PC and have it act as a wired controller if I wanted to (but I never do).

Updating the firmware via the Steam desktop app for both parts of the controller is as straightforward as it gets, and the Steam button itself takes me into "Big Picture Mode" from there. If you've ever used SteamOS before, whether on a Steam Deck or an alternative like Lenovo's Legion Go S, this mode will be instantly familiar and won't require a learning curve.

Games launched from Steam generally activate the app's overlay, accessible again with the Steam button. From here, I can tweak the controller's button bindings, download community-made layouts, or adjust the sensitivity of functions like the built-in gyro for motion-controlled aiming. The trackpads also respond to touch with haptic feedback, and I find myself using them quite often.

Does the Steam Controller have any issues?

The majority of the Steam Controller's genuine downsides are found in the software experience, rather than its hardware. Screw holes on the rear side are quite prevalent, and while they aren't usually visible, my middle fingers regularly brush against a pair mounted on its grips. I wouldn't describe it as uncomfortable, but it's a perceptible difference from my Xbox controller.

For software, this controller relies heavily on the Steam app and Valve's "Steam Input" feature within, which handles button mapping for each of my games. If I stick to launching modern titles from my Steam library, the experience is practically perfect. However, games that rely on older graphics APIs can cause issues with the Steam overlay, leading to controller detection issues.

Using the Steam Controller with non-Steam games is possible, as my experiment with importing Dying Light from the Epic Games Store proves. Unfortunately, it's far from a straightforward process, and the necessary tinkering with launch options and launcher manipulation will likely turn off some PC gamers who want a more "console-like" experience with this joypad.

The obnoxious elephant in the room is that titles from the Xbox app will not work with the Steam Controller on Windows without third-party software. There's some nuance to the issue, and progression in the SDL library hints at future improvements. For now, though, entries like Forza Horizon 6 installed with PC Game Pass are not compatible.

Should you buy the Steam Controller?

You should buy this if ...

✅ You play most of your games on Steam

✅ You're willing to tinker with button layouts

You should not buy this if ...

❌ You want to play Game Pass titles on Xbox PC

For each accusation I've seen about Valve creating a "walled garden" in the PC gaming community with the Steam Controller, there are counterpoints to most of them. It's a feature-rich joypad that justifies its price point, with the charging puck being both a genuine convenience and a unique quirk. The only complaint I can't refute is the lack of compatibility with the Xbox PC app and UWP apps provided by Game Pass.

SDL library support is helping, and the emulators I've used recently are working perfectly with this controller. Whether that triggers a change from Valve to fully support its new joypad on Windows without requiring the Steam desktop app is up for debate, but I'd argue that the Steam Deck's evolution suggests it could happen. If you're lucky enough to see one in stock, it's worth buying.

If you bought Valve's new $99 Steam Controller as I did, you might have noticed that it doesn't function as expected outside the Steam app. It isn't completely useless, as the controller falls back into a "lizard mode" that lets you navigate your Windows desktop with basic controls.

Still, games launched from the Xbox app on PC or other third-party launchers won't detect any compatible controller and assume you're still using a mouse and keyboard.

A few workarounds are circulating in the PC gaming community via third-party software, and as you might expect, none of them are officially approved by Valve or Microsoft. SISR (Steam Input System Redirector) and SteamlessController are both fan-made, open-source projects hosted on GitHub, and the latter works without needing Steam open in the background.

In turn, each of these apps depends on code from other GitHub-hosted software, like VIIPER (Virtual Input over IP EmulatoR) for SISR and ViGEmBus for SteamlessController.

If you aren't a particularly confident Windows user, potentially picking up Valve's new Steam Controller to simplify PC gaming into something more akin to a homemade Steam Machine "console", then this may already seem like too much hard work — or risky, if any of these apps are "vibe-coded" with the help of AI, noting that SteamlessController lists Anthropic's Claude as a contributor.

What about SDL support for the Steam Controller?

Thankfully, there has been some movement towards supporting the Steam Controller outside of the Steam app, as the SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) library now supports the controller's "touchpads, capacitive touch for sticks, and grip sense handling" (via Phoronix).

In theory, that means certain games will begin to recognize the Steam Controller as a fully-functional joypad when you play them on PC. You might not see SDL support across every AAA title, but it's a major step towards controller functionality on Windows when importing non-Steam games.

Testing the current functionality myself by adding the popular Subnautica 2 as a non-Steam game (or rather the GameLaunchHelper.exe file) confirms my suspicion: Steam Input doesn't activate, and the Steam Controller is still detected as a mouse and keyboard. While I can bind its detected mouse clicks and other inputs in the game, it won't support the controller's full feature set.

So, is the Steam Controller worth buying?

I spent my own money on Valve's revised Steam Controller, but my experience is far from unique. This issue with the Xbox PC app and Game Pass games has been known since the embargo lifted on sample units, but it's always better to go hands-on with a retail model and see what the experience is like for paying customers. I'm testing some of these trending concerns with my own unit, and will publish my take on its value soon enough.

For now, I'm not willing to download a third-party input translation layer just to play games from my Game Pass Ultimate subscription.

Whether the blame lies with Microsoft and its UWP app approach to games on the Xbox app or with Valve and its lack of Xinput support on the Steam Controller is a debate for another time, but I don't want another app in my system tray to solve the issue. I'll keep you updated if the situation changes, and if I have any luck with the Steam desktop app and its default setup.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

While Valve's upcoming living room-friendly gaming PC, the Steam Machine, has been delayed due to memory shortages, its new premium $99 Steam Controller PC gaming accessory thankfully came out on schedule on May 4. Sadly, though, the manufacturer clearly didn't have enough supply to meet the ravenous demand for the controller, as it sold out mere hours after launch.

This has frustrated countless PC gamers who were hoping to get their hands on Valve's advanced gamepad, especially since scalpers — individuals who buy new products in bulk and then resell them for significantly higher prices — have begun to list Steam Controllers for upwards of $399 on sites like eBay. People are angry, to put things lightly. And they're right to be.

Right now, it's unclear when Steam Controllers will be restocked, and it seems like they'll remain out of stock in the coming days and potentially even weeks. One bit of good news, though, is that Valve has promised customers it's working on improving availability and supply of the accessory, and says it "will have an update on expected timeline soon."

"[The] Steam Controller ran out faster than we anticipated, and we hate that not everyone who wanted one was able to get it," the company lamented in a social media post. "We’re working on getting more in stock and will have an update on expected timeline soon."

While the new Steam Controller hasn't been without controversy — many feel that its high $99 price tag is too expensive, and its lack of compatibility with Xbox and PS5 consoles means that it's strictly relegated to Steam and PC gaming — the gamepad has nevertheless attracted the attention and demand of many users due to its advanced set of features.

In addition to having a standard layout of buttons you'd expect from a modern gaming controller, the Steam Controller also sports back buttons you can grip to enable gyro aiming, as well as trackpads that simulate mouse movement — similar to what you'll find on a Steam Deck.

Beyond that, the magnetic thumbsticks are incredibly high quality and support capacitive touch for motion control compatibility, while the gamepad's internal motors deliver immersive haptic feedback for those who enjoy the feel of controller rumble.

Indeed, there are plenty of reasons why a PC gamer might want a Steam Controller over more "standard" options like a regular Xbox gamepad, which makes the fact it instantly went out of stock all the more frustrated for interested customers. Hopefully Valve is able to get fresh waves of controllers on the market soon; if the company shares any further updates on the matter, we'll be covering it right here at Windows Central.

Are you interested in buying a Steam Controller, but haven't been able to due to how quickly it sold out? What about the gamepad makes it desirable enough for you to choose it over something more affordable, like an Xbox controller? I'm curious to hear from you, so please share your thoughts with me in the comments as well as in our poll.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Valve just launched its brand new, totally revamped Steam Controller, and to no one's surprise, it sold out immediately as Steam was crushed by the traffic from potential customers.

I say "potential" because I'm not doubting that far more PC gamers were left dismayed at the controller selling out so quickly than were actually able to buy one.

Following the trend of most hardware launches in semi-recent memory, Valve's new Steam Controllers immediately began filling up slots at eBay, where the most expensive second-hand option is listed at $399.

It's all getting so tiresome.

If you missed the first wave of Steam Controllers available directly from Valve for $99, there's really no reason to spend anything more on a scalped item. Valve is no doubt already working on restocking the controller at its regular price, and after all, it's just a controller.

A lively thread on the r/pcmasterrace subreddit has been discussing the scalped Steam Controllers, and it's an interesting analysis of the psychology behind consumerism and the "grindset" that seems to have taken over.

Scalper Scum is the reason why we can't have anything nice these days. from r/pcmasterrace

As the top comment points out, "With this one, anyone [who] buys the Steam Controller from a scalper gets a ton of blame. [...] They are creating the market along with the scalpers."

Another comment with hundreds of upvotes basically echoes the sentiment, saying, "If you buy one from a scalper you are just as guilty as the scalper. Deny your consumerism. Self-control is within your power."

👉 Valve’s $99 Steam Controller has a big problem — and it's not the price

User MetallicGray says what we've all been thinking lately, that "it feels like the problem has grown 100-fold in the past couple years." They suggest that "you are literally paying some loser to take an item off a shelf in front of you, turn around, and sell it to you for 2x."

Others posit that the blame doesn't just fall on scalpers, and instead, the root cause is consumerism itself. Hard to disagree there.

As u/DeanBranbeno remarks, the craze over new products has reached a point where it's almost impossible to avoid scalping: "Stop buying things on release and chill for a bit and maybe scalping will die down." They tap into human nature by suggesting that "people will never have that much self control."

When will Valve restock its supply of Steam Controllers?

Unfortunately, part of the scalping craze that's appeared around the Steam Controller has to do with Valve's restocking schedule — or lack thereof.

It's unclear as to when more Steam Controllers will officially arrive, although some members of the r/SteamController subreddit have pointed out that units are sporadically available this morning.

Whether these are actual restocks or returns is unclear. Valve has had issues keeping its Steam Deck in stock lately, but that has more to do with RAM and storage prices than extreme demand.

Considering the Steam Controller is, well, just a controller, I don't expect Valve to have as hard a time keeping up with demand once the initial craze dies down.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Once a month, the PC gaming mega-giant Valve opens an optional hardware and software survey for its Steam users to gauge trends and ultimately spotlight the world's most common components. Much of it is predictable and follows obvious patterns, such as the average amount of memory (RAM) increasing over time and discontinued parts falling off the graphs.

Still, some tidbits offer insight into buying habits and product adoption. In particular, the Steam Hardware & Software Survey for April 2026 shows that NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3060 with 8GB of VRAM remains the most common discrete graphics card this year. For context, that GPU is now three and a half years old, and many gamers already debate the viability of 8GB cards in 2026.

It's a similar story for operating systems, as Windows holds an utterly dominant 93.47% adoption amongst Steam users, though it's divided between its two (technically) active versions. Windows 10 is in its End-of-Life phase, but Microsoft's Extended Security Updates (ESU) program offers an extension through October 13, and it looks like 25% of Windows users have opted for it.

Linux and macOS fluctuated into ever-so-slight negatives, but the values were less than 1 percentage point and shouldn't be considered alarming. At the very least, Valve reports Arch Linux as the most-used "distro", which is the foundation for its in-house SteamOS rival to Windows 11, pre-installed on its four-year-old Steam Deck handheld and the upcoming Steam Machine PC.

Windows Central's take: Unaffordability is forcing a new norm for PC gamers

Again, it's the natural order of things for incremental hardware and software upgrades to be reflected in Steam's survey, but seeing a quarter of users holding on to Windows 10 is telling. While activists worldwide are staging mock funerals for Microsoft's OS, many PC gamers seemingly aren't willing to budge until the bitter end, possibly due to their device's incompatibility-led obsolescence.

That, and seeing the RTX 3060 clinging on for dear life, helps justify my frustrations with a lack of optimization in modern AAA games. This isn't even the 12GB version that's still going strong in my wife's PC; this is the entry-level 8GB model in NVIDIA's RTX 30 Series that lacks native FP8 support for cutting-edge DLSS tech. Your average gaming rig is two generations old.

And against Microsoft's assurance that 32GB of RAM is the "no worries" count in a world of hilariously expensive DDR5 memory, there still hasn't been a significant shift away from 16GB as the most common count in Valve's latest survey. All of this keeps my hopes alive for the Steam Machine to come with "affordable" pricing.

That, and I'm suddenly checking up on friends and relatives who are stuck on Windows 10. We can always bypass the TPM 2.0 check and upgrade an unsupported computer to Windows 11 with a bit of extra work, but it's starting to feel tense for those who still outright refuse to move over. Are you still using Windows 10? What are your plans for October? Not long now.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

The PC gaming world has been focused lately on the Steam Controller's launch this week, but it's another piece of Valve hardware that's lately stealing some of the spotlight.

According to Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais, speaking with IGN, the company behind Steam is "hard at work" on the Steam Deck 2.

The first Steam Deck is what really kicked the PC gaming handheld craze off when it launched in 2022, with major brands like Lenovo, ASUS, MSI, and even Xbox getting in on the action in the following years.

So, with a Valve employee stating that the Steam Deck 2 is under development, that must mean it's coming sometime soon? Not likely.

Valve's Steam Deck 2 is in development, but don't expect it anytime soon

Valve is currently having a hard time getting its previously announced hardware, including the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, to market, never mind anything it has yet to officially unveil.

Announced alongside the new Steam Controller that launched on May 4, the console-like Steam Machine gaming PC and the new ARM-based Steam Frame VR headset have been delayed beyond their original "early 2026" launch target due to an ongoing memory crisis.

Valve is still hoping to get its new platforms out sometime in 2026, though I'm sure only a select few know if that goal remains a reality.

The RAM crisis could extend as far as 2030

With AI datacenters gobbling up the world's supply of DRAM and NAND, memory and storage are a hot commodity. The blooming effects of these supply chain issues are being felt elsewhere, and the cost of almost everything with a processor continues to rise.

What's worse is that there's no real end in sight for the RAM crisis. Some experts believe that high prices could last until 2030, while others take a more optimistic outlook with a potential 2027 or 2028 solution.

With this timeline in mind, it's easy to assume that the Steam Deck 2 could be two or three years away from an official reveal, never mind a physical launch.

TL;DR: Valve claims it's working on the Steam Deck 2 as its Steam Machine and Steam Frame are delayed due to hardware shortages.

Valve is more worried about handheld gaming power than hardware prices

Let's assume for a moment that there is no RAM crisis. The Steam Machine and Steam Frame launched alongside the Steam Controller, and everyone is having a grand time gaming on the hardware.

In this scenario, I still don't think the Steam Deck 2 would be arriving anytime soon. Valve has publicly stated that its goal for the Steam Deck's successor isn't just to boost performance while delivering similar battery life to the first-gen handheld.

This comment from Griffais was made in 2025. Since then, there have, of course, been advancements in chip technology. Intel launched its impressive Panther Lake mobile generation, Qualcomm revealed Snapdragon X2 SoCs, and AMD continues to forge ahead with Ryzen AI Max APUs.

Are they what Valve has been waiting for? Probably not. But they could be an early step on the way to Steam Deck 2's full development.

TL;DR: As of 2025, Valve has stated it's waiting for significant SoC performance and efficiency advancements before launching the Steam Deck 2.

Could the Steam Deck 2 be the first ARM-based PC gaming handheld?

Considering it's said that Valve made a ton of different prototypes for the original Steam Deck, I don't doubt that the company is exploring all options when it comes to the Steam Deck 2's SoC.

That could include ARM-based chips like Qualcomm's Snapdragon or the rumored NVIDIA N1X, especially if a performance-to-battery ratio is as important as Valve makes it seem.

👉 I tested 5 PC games on the ASUS Zenbook A16 with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme: Is Windows on ARM improving?

Although Nintendo has had massive success using an ARM-based NVIDIA Tegra SoC in its Switch devices, there has yet to be a mainstream PC gaming handheld using ARM. That's a shame considering how efficient we've found Snapdragon X and X2 chips to be in laptops, but I get it — until recently, PC gaming on ARM hasn't been a great experience.

That's changing quicker than I think most people realize, and even something like the Surface Pro 11 with a Snapdragon X Plus chip, a PC that's by no means a gaming system, has proven to be a reliable device for having fun.

Valve is getting cozy with ARM in its Steam Frame VR headset

It's not like Valve would be breaking new ground by considering ARM for its Steam Deck 2.

The upcoming Steam Frame VR headset is known to be using an ARM-based Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, running SteamOS and games locally on the device (it also works connected to a PC).

Doesn't this seem like the perfect test bed for an ARM-based PC gaming handheld? If it works better than expected, great. If not, it's back to the drawing board.

We've yet to see what NVIDIA's N1X SoC can actually do, but we have seen the rather significant generational upgrade to performance and efficiency that Qualcomm has pulled off with Snapdragon X2.

Assuming these improvements continue in future generations, the Steam Deck 2's arrival a few years in the future could line up perfectly with an ARM-based Snapdragon SoC with capabilities far beyond the current state.

TL;DR: Valve could be using its ARM-based Steam Frame VR headset as a test bed for a potential ARM-based gaming handheld.

The AMD-based Steam Deck 2 counter argument to an ARM device

A Steam Deck 2 running on an efficient and powerful ARM chip is an exciting thought, but it's certainly not a guarantee.

The original Steam Deck runs on a custom AMD Zen 2/RDNA 2 APU, and the upcoming Steam Machine is also leaning into an AMD Zen 4/RDNA 3 APU. Many believe the Steam Deck 2 will also stick with AMD, and for good reason.

Valve has put a ton of work into Mesa RADV drivers for AMD CPUs and the Linux platform (which SteamOS is based on), and it's not likely going to abandon that work anytime soon.

Of course, the Mesa3D Turnip driver used by Qualcomm Adreno GPUs has also been receiving its fair share of love from Valve, especially thanks to the Steam Frame, though some believe that has more to do with bringing PC games to your phone than an ARM-based gaming handheld.

In the same vein, Valve has been quietly funding FEX — an open-source translation layer for bringing x86 Windows games to ARM-based Linux — for about a decade.

TL;DR: Valve has put a lot of work into optimizing AMD drivers for the Linux platform, which many view as a primary reason why the Steam Deck 2 will use AMD hardware.

The state of the Steam Deck 2 is anyone's guess until Valve makes it official

I'm basing my predictions on what Valve reps have publicly stated as well as the current tech landscape, but it's ultimately only a select few at Valve who actually know what the Steam Deck 2 could look like.

What I want to know is whether or not you think the scenarios I've laid out here make any sense. Could Valve make the Steam Deck 2 ARM-based if future Qualcomm or NVIDIA chips prove to be a huge step forward?

Or will Valve stick with a future AMD chip, if only to take advantage of all the work it's put into the development of drivers for Linux? Let me know what you think in the comments section below!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

A little over four years ago, Steam creator Valve invigorated the handheld gaming PC market with the Steam Deck. Featuring a strong balance of performance, battery longevity, and price alongside a smooth user experience driven by the bespoke Linux-based SteamOS and quality controls, it was an instant hit. And even as competing Windows devices like the ASUS ROG Ally, the Lenovo Legion Go 2, and the Xbox Ally have come along, the Steam Deck is still the preferred handheld of choice for many.

With the rise of AI bringing a widespread RAM shortage, however, Steam Deck stock has rapidly dried up this year, and it may not be back for a long time; reports indicate that AI datacenters are expected to use up 70% of available RAM in 2026, lengthening a memory crisis so severe that it's hamstringing countless industries, from the production of automotives to the creation of Xbox's upcoming Project Helix console.

To put it lightly, things look pretty bleak for the Steam Deck — especially since Valve recently halted production of the original LCD model, and is only working on making the pricier OLED variants now. In a new interview, however, programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais has promised that the firm is "working very hard" to bring the beloved handheld back in stock.

"Yeah, we don't really have any specific details to share about that, but it's something we're working hard on," he told IGN. "And as you are aware, there's a lot of considerations right now with respect to shipping being difficult, and also memory shortages and all that."

"So we've been trying to work through that because we are very cognizant of the fact that there's folks that want to get Steam Deck and they're not currently able to get it," Griffais added. "It's available in some regions right now, but in general, it's something that we're working very hard on."

In an effort to get its hands on as much RAM as it can — both for new Steam Decks as well as the delayed upcoming console-like Steam Machine gaming PC — Valve says it's aiming to "work with all the big players and some of the smaller ones as well" to have multiple sources of RAM to fall back on when supply runs dry elsewhere.

"We're trying to make sure to keep options open and to work with as many different manufacturers as we can," explained Griffais. "I think in general, that's something that we're doing throughout our hardware design and production phase where we're always cognizant of the fact that having a single source for a given part would put us downstream of potential shortages, and things like that in a way that affects the continuity of the supply and the price for end users."

"So from the get-go, we've been trying to make sure that we have many options there, and that's been proving really useful in this kind of climate, because we can work with all the big players and some of the smaller ones as well," he continued.

Of course, there's only so much Valve can do to mitigate the effects of the RAM crisis, as "the conditions around memory are pretty global right now." Still, Griffais points out that there was a similar situation with microcontroller during the pandemic, and Valve was able to weather it by employing this same strategy.

"Because we had so many different options open in terms of putting different types of microcontrollers in there, we were able to navigate that and keep some supply in a climate where maybe some other players were not able to do that," he added. "So we expect to be navigating the memory thing the same way."

One device not affected by the memory shortages is the new $99 Steam Controller, which comes out on May 4. It looks great, though many feel it's too pricey and will be hampered by its lack of compatibility with Xbox on PC and PC Game Pass.

Have you been trying to buy a new Steam Deck, but have been unable to do so due to the memory crisis preventing restocks? Let me know down below.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Valve has finally officially revealed its new Steam Controller, putting an end to the past week of leaks. But while the announcement confirms much of what we already knew, not everyone is sold, especially when it comes to the $99 price (be sure to vote in the poll below and let me know where you land on it).

In the meantime, for many of my colleagues and me, the controller has a much bigger problem.

Price isn't the issue, but compatibility is.

At first glance, the price doesn't seem unreasonable, given the haptic feedback and mousepad abilities. Additionally, you should get some longevity out of this, with Valve confirming that parts will be available through iFixit (via PC Gamer). However, once you start comparing it to other controllers, the concerns become a little easier to understand, at least if you play PC games outside of Steam's platform.

For PC Game Pass users, you’re out of luck. Valve’s Steam Controller reportedly only officially works with devices running Steam. That limitation is already proving to be a dealbreaker for some. As my colleague Richard Devine puts it, “this definitely kills it for me.”

Currently, Valve’s Steam Controller, like its predecessor, lacks standard drivers for Windows, Linux, and Mac, meaning you have to rely on Steam itself to actually use the controller. This isn't something you have to consider when purchasing other third-party (and cheaper) controllers.

With the original Steam Controller at least, the community stepped in and worked around this, creating tools that let it function properly across your entire PC rather than being locked to Steam.

For a controller that costs $99, though, you’d expect that level of flexibility out of the box.

It’s also worth noting that, in testing from PCMag, they do say this is more of a Microsoft-side issue than Valve’s, and users have pointed out that tools like SISR could help resolve it.

Being a big fan of PC Game Pass and someone who was genuinely interested in Valve's second go at a controller, this creates an immediate problem, despite the aforementioned community-created tools that fix it. Do I want to rely on workarounds for a $99 device?

For me, my Xbox Elite Series Controller is quite literally disintegrating more and more after every use, and after nearly a decade of play, I'm not surprised. Due to this, I am actively looking for a replacement, and that replacement could be a $99 Steam Controller, or it very well could not.

Why is Valve releasing the controller without the Steam Machine?

The compatibility issue wouldn't be as big a deal if this were releasing alongside the Steam Machine, you know, the device marketed to work with this controller.

However, due to the massive global shortage of high-end memory and storage modules — gobbled up by the insatiable demand for AI data centers, Valve has been forced to push the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame VR headset back into late 2026.

As Valve's hardware engineer pointed out during an interview, “this doesn’t have RAM in it, and it’s not as complicated to start getting out the door for us.”

Since the controller doesn't rely on those scarce components, Valve is moving ahead with a standalone release, leaving the rest of its hardware ecosystem in production limbo for now. Valve is still aiming for a 2026 release, but no date has been announced yet... and we wait with bated breath on what the price will be, given the RAM pressures.

An alternative, and cheaper controller for PC Game Pass players

If you’ll indulge me for a second, I'd like to turn to another controller on the market, the GameSir G7 Pro 8K.

It offers a useful point of comparison. It doesn’t have trackpads like the Steam Controller, which, unfortunately, is Valve's killer feature, but it does have an 8,000Hz polling rate. This is significantly higher than the Steam Controller’s rated 250Hz and is worth taking into consideration. If you shop at Best Buy, the Gamesir G7 Pro 8K is actually cheaper than the release price of the Steam Controller.

Now, I know higher polling rates don’t always translate directly into smoother gameplay, and they can sometimes be more marketing than meaningful improvement. Still, when you look at early impressions of the Steam Controller, there’s a consistent theme that for FPS games, it’s just okay at best, and for some players, that might not be enough, and I think for who this controller targets, that’s okay.

Over on our r/WindowsCentral subreddit, people had a lot to say about the Steam Controller. One user suggested people just “connect your current PC to your TV with an HDMI cable and use an Xbox controller via Bluetooth for half the price,” which is a fair point given the $99 cost.

That said, not everyone agrees; value is in the eye of the beholder, of course, and what's worth spending $99 on from one gamer to the next will differ wildly. Polling rates and other technical specs aside, everyone wants value for their money. If you play primarily on Steam anyway, this controller will probably be a day-one purchase. I just wish those of us on other launchers could join in!

For me at least, it comes down to compatibility. The Steam Controller is built for PC primarily, and most PC gamers do use Steam. While it does support Bluetooth, that doesn’t help if you want to use it on an Xbox either. Though that part isn't Valve's problem to fix.

As Xbox continues its effort to integrate into PC gaming with Project Helix, I’d love to see more openness around controller support on consoles, but realistically, we could be waiting a long time for these developments. Recently, Asha Sharma, Xbox CEO, has expressed her own concerns around RAM shortages impacting the rollout of the next-generation console. A console we are hoping breaks down the PC/Console boundaries.

The Steam Controller doesn’t have to be everything to everyone; it just needs to be enough for most of us at that $99 price point. On paper, it’s almost there. But after looking into the reviews, I just can’t justify it for my purposes. Especially knowing the potential headache with my Game Pass library. It’s a pass from me (pun intended) for now, and I suspect a lot of other Game Pass players will feel the same.

What about you? Am I being too harsh here, or is the lack of native Windows support a total non-starter? Hit the comments and don’t forget to weigh in on the poll!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

In what might be the worst-kept secret right now, Valve’s hardware, specifically the Steam Controller, has done nothing but leak over the past week.

From a review going live early, to images surfacing online, to even the apparent $99 price (which is now confirmed via Wario64) appearing ahead of time. We now have a fairly clear idea of what to expect if these leaks prove accurate.

On top of that, backend API updates have also surfaced. This API lists not just the Steam Controller, but also the previously announced Steam Machine (console) and Steam Frame (VR headset) as “coming soon.”

I will, however, say before we dive in that I can't actually show any new images myself here, but I will do my best to break down all the new details.

So with all that in mind, let’s do exactly that and break down the Steam Controller and round up everything you need to know.

First off, thanks to 4Gamer, which appears to have leaked a batch of images showcasing Valve’s Steam Controller.

These include details like the controller’s weight (292g), packaging, and comparisons alongside Xbox and PlayStation 5 controllers. Through the same source, we also have a reported release date.

If accurate, the Steam Controller is slated to launch on May 4, 2026.

Now over to a leaked review from TeckyTalk, which briefly went live early and gives us a clearer idea of what to expect. Keeping things simple, here’s a quick breakdown of the important positives and negatives.

Positives:

• Dual trackpads that feel intuitive
• Great for PC gaming on the couch
• Has TMR thumbsticks
• Great buttons and solid build
• Good value at $99

Negatives:

• Not precise enough for competitive mouse play
• No audio jack
• Battery isn’t easily replaceable
• Can feel slippery to hold

I do like the overall look of Valve’s hardware lineup. I will admit I still prefer Xbox’s off-center thumbsticks, though, as they feel more comfortable to me, and the Steam Controller doesn’t offer that.

With all that said, let me know your thoughts on Valve’s hardware lineup in the comments, and be sure to take part in our poll!

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Valve's Steam Deck Verified Games initiative has been a massive success in the gaming handheld world. Now, Valve has added new beta Steamworks tools for game developers that gather data directly from Steam Deck users.

If a game has made the cut and is Steam Deck Verified, developers can now track average framerates over the past 30 days, as well as receive user survey results based on whether or not a game lives up to its Verified promises.

For those who are worried about Steam harvesting user data without permission, fret not. These two new metrics are based on opt-in user participation.

Valve says it plans to add variance data for each date listed in its 30-day tally at some point in the future, and it also plans to bring this new compatibility chart to Steam Deck games listed as Playable rather than Verified.

👉 After 3 years, Valve's Steam Deck is still one of the best gaming handhelds — but the conversation has changed

The user survey results metric works a bit differently. Again, it's opt-in only, and the survey will only appear after a user has played at least 10 minutes of a game.

Users will be prompted about whether or not they agree with a specific game's Steam Deck Verified status. Should they disagree, they'll be asked to provide reasons why based on Input, Legibility, Performance, Stability, and Other.

These user survey results are meant to accompany the new average frame rate charts and to provide developers with a clearer look at whether or not their tweaks are actually improving the experience for gamers.

How does the Steam Deck Verified program work?

Valve uses a system with four main tenets to judge Steam Deck verification. Controller input focuses on support, appropriate icons, and on-screen keyboard automation. Display focuses on default resolution settings and text legibility.

Seamlessness is more about avoiding compatibility warnings and proper controller navigation. System support relies on Proton compatibility and anti-cheat support.

Games are then given one of four different Steam Deck Verified ratings.

Verified means a game has passed all checks. Playable means it runs with some caveats (maybe text isn't always legible). Unsupported is just what it suggests; this often has to do with anti-cheat not running on Linux. And Unknown means it hasn't been processed.

These ratings are all readily visible in the Steam store, largely taking the guesswork out of the buying process.

Windows Central's take

These new metrics should prove to be invaluable for developers who want to make their game run optimally on Steam Deck.

Although the new charts are only for developers at this point, I don't see why Valve couldn't one day make the data publicly visible, giving customers a better gauge of how a game will run. Perhaps it will arrive once a bank of data has been built.

Valve has been hard at work adding new hardware monitoring, no doubt as it preps for its release of the Steam Machine ... if that ever happens.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Back in 2023, Steam introduced a 30-day price history tracker in parts of the EU, though it was only available in some countries rather than across the entire region.

Now, based on recent backend updates, it looks like Valve could be expanding this into a proper 30-day price history feature for Steam games, likely rolling out more broadly.

Whenever Valve adds something genuinely useful like this, it raises a simple question for me: why doesn't Xbox do this too?

It is a consumer-friendly change and just another example of the kind of feature I would love to see Xbox adopt, and given their recent track record of listening to feedback, it isn’t totally out of the question that they do add something like this.

After looking into this update, I came across a Reddit user claiming that this is something PlayStation already does, which only raises the question further of why Xbox does not offer anything similar.

I cannot confirm if this applies to every region on PlayStation, as I don’t own one anymore, but it is still a great feature to have. It helps users make more informed decisions, especially at a time when everything feels more expensive than it should be.

On Xbox, players are still forced to rely on third-party trackers. They are useful, but far from ideal compared to having this built directly into the store.

For now, tools like XBDeals and PSPrices can help you check price history. They work, even if the experience is a bit clunky, but they are worth using if you are someone who likes to hunt for deals like me.

I’d love to hear from you, so tell me what you think. Would you actually use something like this on Xbox, or is price history not something you really care about?

If you are someone who regularly waits for sales, this kind of feature could make a real difference. Being able to quickly check whether a deal is genuinely good or not would save time and remove some of the guesswork.

On the other hand, if you are already comfortable using third-party tools, you might not feel the need for Xbox to build this in at all.

Either way, I am curious where people land on this. Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and make sure you take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

The creator of Steam, Valve, may be facing a $900 million lawsuit in the UK as it's accused of "rigging" the PC gaming market, but that's not the only legal trouble the publisher is dealing with right now. Recently, New York Attorney General Letitia James also began the process of suing Valve "for illegally promoting gambling through video games popular with teenagers." Hagens Berman initiated a similar lawsuit just two days ago.

The case against Valve argues that loot boxes — in-game containers players can pay money to open in hopes for a valuable cosmetic item, such as skins for in-game weapons — in its games (Counter-Strike 2, Dota 2, Team Fortress 2) "enable gambling by enticing users to pay for the chance to win a rare virtual item of significant monetary value."

Now, Valve has publicly responded, posting a letter to its New York community on Steam on Wednesday afternoon and addressing the situation by explaining why it feels its loot boxes don't violate New York gambling laws. "We don't believe that they do, and were disappointed to see the NYAG make that claim after working to educate them about our virtual items and mystery boxes since they first reached out to us in early 2023. We rarely talk about litigation, but we felt we should explain the situation to you," it wrote.

The crux of Valve's argument against these lawsuits is that in-game loot boxes are ultimately no different than products like baseball card packs or blind boxes — things that also give people a chance of finding a high-value collectible, and then trading or selling it to others for profit. Valve also points out that loot boxes exist elsewhere in gaming, and in its case, have no impact on gameplay and don't give players an advantage.

The company also says it explained "our efforts over many years to shut down accounts found to be using Valve game items on gambling sites in violation of the Steam Subscriber Agreement," and asserts that "Valve does not cooperate with gambling sites." Valve has aggressively ordered Counter-Strike skin gambling sites to cease and desist before.

Valve then communicated its issues with the alterations the NYAG believes have to be made to its business. Firstly, it took a firm stance against pressure to make loot box contents untradable and non-transferrable, arguing that it's good that players can sell their items on Steam's Community Market for money in the same way you can resell a baseball or Pokémon card.

"Transferability is a right we believe should not be taken away, and we refuse to do that," it said.

It then argued against the NYAG proposing the gathering of additional user information "on the off-chance someone in New York was anonymizing their location to appear outside of New York, such as by using a VPN," noting that "This would have involved implementing invasive technologies for every user worldwide." The publisher "knows our users care about the security of their personal information," and honestly, after all the recent controversy with Discord, who doesn't?

Valve also spoke against insinuations by the NYAG that there's a connection between video games and real-world violence. "Those extraneous comments are a distraction and a mischaracterization we’ve all heard before. Numerous studies throughout the years have concluded there is no link between media (movies, TV, books, comics, music, and games) and real world violence," it wrote.

It ended its letter by stating that it would comply with any laws passed about loot boxes, and notes that while it "may have been easier and cheaper" for Valve to make a deal with the NYAG, it believes that deal would have ended up being bad for its community.

"Ultimately, a court will decide whose position — ours or NYAG's — is correct. In the meantime, we wanted to make sure you were aware of the potential impact to users in New York and elsewhere," Valve concluded.

🗨️ Who do you agree with?

Valve just can't seem to escape lawsuits from regulators and government bodies, huh? I'm curious: do you believe the New York AG is in the right here, or do you believe Valve is correct in saying that loot boxes in games are ultimately no different than baseball cards or blind boxes?

Let me know what your take is below, and make sure to vote in our poll:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Valve could have celebrated another birthday of its iconic, still beloved Steam Deck yesterday, as the Linux-based PC gaming handheld turned 4 years old on February 25. However, ongoing storage and RAM shortages have affected Steam Deck OLED production, and there are no significant signs that the issue is easing for you (or me) as average PC gamers.

One of the original Steam Deck LCD models, with 256GB of storage, has already been removed from sale. To be fair, it hardly appealed to modern audiences for its comparatively tiny storage capacity for installing games, and its removal seemed to be part of Valve's plan — one I'd agree with.

However, future strategies for the upcoming Steam Machine, Valve's gaming PC, have been disrupted by surging prices for critical memory and storage parts, reportedly driven by the gargantuan rise of enterprise-driven generative AI. As a regular Steam Deck user and general fan of Valve, it's hard to feel as optimistic as when we ran a speculative Steam Machine price analysis last year.

I already had reservations about whether the upcoming Steam Machine would handle graphically intensive modern games with its 8GB of VRAM, despite Valve's claims that it targets a 4K resolution running at 60 FPS by relying on AMD's FSR upscaling technology. If it's on a lower GPU limit and we end up paying over the odds for the hardware, then I could predict a negative backlash.

Is Valve's Steam Machine in trouble or not?

Interestingly, AMD's CEO claims Valve is still on track to release the Steam Machine on its original, yet publicly obscured, launch date. We already know that a "semi-custom" Zen 4 processor from AMD is inside it, so it's reasonable to expect that mass production of that chip started months ago (via PC Gamer).

What that doesn't reveal is what's happening with plans for pricing the Steam Machine, and whether Valve will (or can) subsidize the rising costs. I've personally watched the price of popular desktop memory (RAM) rise from around $98 to $250 for 16GB of DDR5-6000, and I can't imagine it would be easy for Valve to offset the cost of memory chiplets inside AMD's processors.

🗨️ So, what about SteamOS vs. Windows?

The age-old "Year of the Linux desktop" discussion oozes back into popular culture every few months — like a gas leak — though I still firmly believe dual-booting gives you the best of both worlds anyway. Linux and Windows play well together, but the topic of a new distro dethroning Microsoft's PC gaming rule never goes away.

Then again, I'm still bothered by the bickering that happens with some open-source options. Essay-length explanations of developer drama leave me uninterested in booting into otherwise exciting gaming distros like Bazzite, and it feels like I'm back to waiting for Valve to better support SteamOS on any PC — while I stick with Fedora KDE for low-power productivity.

Valve is the only recognized brand that has a chance of making Linux appeal to the average crowd, using the Steam Machine as the Trojan Horse that sneaks it in. Still, if this cube-shaped gaming PC launches with a couple of hundred dollars over what I expect, then kiss those aspirations goodbye. At least SteamOS will stay a boon to the Steam Deck (if you can still buy one in six months).

Are you waiting for the Steam Machine, or are you happy with a Steam Deck? Perhaps neither? Let me know, I'm interested to see how many in our community are eagerly awaiting Valve's next move.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

I was casually checking my email after resetting my password to download a copy of DaVinci Resolve when I was served an advert for “Cheap Dota 2 accounts.” Clicking through took me to a website openly selling gaming accounts for up to $1,000, covering Fortnite, Call of Duty, Roblox, GTA, and more.

Not only that, but it's against ToS (terms of service) for these games to resell your accounts, and yes, even Call of Duty, an IP now owned by Microsoft.

Microsoft approves the adverts via advertising networks that then appear within Outlook, which makes this even more surprising. I’m also not sure whether to be offended that it thinks I need a Dota 2 boost, or that I even play Dota 2, joking of course.

Let’s go over just how messed up this is, and how Microsoft is essentially endorsing an extremely shady practice that could lead to permanent bans or worse for users who unknowingly think this is okay because it’s Microsoft serving them the ads.

Why selling game accounts breaks platform rules

Before we jump into why this breaks Steam’s rules, let’s first look at what Microsoft says about advertising in Outlook. On its official “About ads in Outlook” support page, Microsoft explains that ads shown in the free version of Outlook are delivered through advertising networks such as the Microsoft Audience Network and Meta Audience Network, and that advertisers buy placements through those systems.

Both approve ads using either automated systems or human review, meaning this likely slipped through the cracks of an AI rather than a human but is still equally concerning as ads appearing with outlook would come across as safe and okay for users by Microsoft and in this case the site linking me to buy Dota 2 accounts doesn’t seem too safe and if anything was quite shady.

Now over to Steam, in their Steam Subscriber Agreement (something users have to agree to), Valve specifically states the following:

Just to add insult to injury for Microsoft here, reselling your Microsoft account is also against Microsoft’s own Terms of Service, meaning they’re essentially endorsing a practice that even they themselves don’t allow.

Whether preventing account resales is properly enforced or not is a different story, but my issue here stems more from how shady this site was and how easy it seems to be to trick these AI systems that regulate these things.

Whichever way you look at it, this is not a good look for Microsoft. Sites like these often carry risks, including users having their details stolen, which also raises concerns about the growing reliance on automated systems and AI that sit at the core of Microsoft’s future strategy.

This also isn't an isolated incident, and people have been reporting the issue for at least a couple of years, with varying dodgy-looking adverts.

🗨️ How do you feel about Microsoft serving ads that are against platforms Terms of Service?

Have you ever seen questionable adverts inside Outlook or other Microsoft services?

Let us know in the comments, and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

When it comes to ever-developing tech, there are two ways to handle so-called patent trolls. You can do what most companies do, which is to write a hefty check for the annoying person challenging your ideas to go away, and get back to work. Or you can do what Valve just did, which is spend millions of dollars to systematically dismantle a man’s entire career and leave him personally liable for damages in what reads as the legal equivalent of “f**k around and find out.”

As of earlier this week, Leigh Rothschild, the man who has spent decades filing over 1200 lawsuits against everyone from Apple to small businesses, just did the “finding out.” A jury in Seattle sided with Valve and agreed that Rothschild violated the Washington Patent Troll Protection Act (PTPA).

This win is a massive middle finger to the industry’s most prolific litigator, and it serves as a reminder to everyone: Do not mess with Gabe Newell.

A Peace Treaty that went ignored

To understand how delicious this victory is, we have to go back to 2016. Back then, Valve did what everyone else does with this guy: they settled a dispute with Rothschild. They entered into a Global Settlement and License Agreement (GSLA).

Today I learned that a GSLA is basically a fancy way of saying that Valve gave Rothschild a big pile of "go away" money. In exchange, Rothschild gave Valve a "perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license" to his entire patent portfolio. It was a peace treaty of sorts. Valve effectively bought the right to never be sued by this man or his dozens of shell companies again.

For six years, it worked for them, but in 2022, Rothschild’s companies started spamming Valve’s legal team with marketing emails basically saying they had fresh new patents, and did Valve want to buy a licence? Valve, knowing they already had a license to literally everything the man owned, ignored the emails.

So, Rothschild did his thing and er… sued them.

Rothschild vs Valve and the Patent Troll Protection Act

A Rothschild-owned shell company called Display Technologies sued Valve in September 2022, claiming the Steam Deck (and Steam in general) infringed on a patent for "displaying content." You can read more on the patent here and pretend you know what you are looking at...

Valve’s lawyers likely had a good laugh before emailing Rothschild’s team a copy of their own 2016 contract, which covered this and other patents. It should have ended there, but it didn't; the Rothschilds’ lawyers refused to drop the case until they were practically dragged out of court, eventually dismissing it "with prejudice". Lawyer words for "you messed up, and you can't bring this specific claim ever again."

But Valve wasn't satisfied with a dismissal and sought to set an example by suing Rothschild under the Patent Troll Protection Act (PTPA) for breaching the original 2016 contract.

The PTPA targets individuals or companies that simply collect and enforce patents without actually using them to create anything, making money through litigation instead (exactly what Rothschild and his entities have been doing). Rothschild claimed that Valve, as a private company,y could not sue under this act and it was simply a private contract dispute; however, the judge in the case ruled Valve’s case was valid as patent trolling is a matter of “vital public interest.t”

Valve then sues Rothschild, and years later has won

So, Valve sued back in 2023, drama ensued, and the case has been going on ever since. It’s worth noting, too, that Valve was suing Rothschild personally rather than one of his many tiny LLCs.

Most patent trolls use a "shell game" strategy. They create dozens of tiny LLCs with no assets. If an LLC loses a case, it just goes bankrupt, and the troll walks away with their personal wealth untouched. Valve’s lawyers, knowing this, went for the jugular by suing Leigh Rothschild himself.

This week, the jury delivered the final verdict that $152k is now due from Rothschild to Valve. A small amount of money in the grand scheme of things, but it sets an important precedent. Because this decision has been made under the PTPA, it clearly indicates that Rothschild’s claims are in bad faith.

Valve didn't have to do this. They could have settled for a fraction of what they spent on lawyers, and it would have cost them much more than the puny $152k ruling. But the team at Valve clearly decided that enough was enough.

By fighting this all the way to a jury, they’ve set a precedent. They’ve proven that not only will contract breakers be punished, but playing the shell game will no longer work. If you use LLCs to harass companies, the court can still hold you personally liable.

GG, Valve. Well played.

Let us know what you think

Valve just flipped the script on a prolific patent troll and walked away with $152K — a rare outcome in an industry where trolls usually drain time and money from everyone else.

Have you dealt with patent‑troll nonsense in your own field, or do you think more companies should push back like this? Drop your thoughts below and let’s talk about it.

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Recently, we covered how Steam Deck OLED stock was beginning to dry up. At the time, many (including us) speculated that rising RAM and storage prices across the industry could be the cause. Now, Valve has stepped in and addressed the situation directly.

Updating the Steam Deck store page with a comment that leaves very little room for interpretation, Valve says, "Steam Deck OLED may be out-of-stock intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages. Steam Deck LCD 256GB is no longer in production, and once sold out will no longer be available."

It doesn't leave much to the imagination, and it isn't the first time Valve has commented on RAM and storage constraints. Not long ago, Valve delayed the release of its Steam Machine and has yet to provide a concrete price. The reason, again, comes down to RAM and storage pricing.

It’s also worth noting that when I checked the store page in the US, all Steam Deck variants are currently in stock, so buying one now could be your last chance for a while.

Memory and storage prices continue to rise, in part due to AI demand reshaping the industry. Some suppliers are prioritizing large AI-focused deals, sending more stock toward data centers and enterprise clients, and leaving less available for consumer hardware.

Even recently, Western Digital ran into HDD stock shortages (via Reddit). Its CEO confirmed the company had secured major AI-related agreements. At this point, a Steam Deck OLED price increase would not be surprising. The same likely applies to the Steam Machine, though we never knew the price to begin with.

And it is not just Valve. Future Xbox and PlayStation consoles will face the same market pressures. In Sony’s case, IGN suggests it could push the PS6 as far back as 2030 due to rising component costs. Nintendo Life also covered rumors of a price increase for the Nintendo Switch 2 this year.

RAM and storage aren't the only components facing issues across the industry, as NVIDIA is reportedly slashing GPU supply, with no new GPU set to release for gamers until 2027.

Are you concerned about how rising RAM and storage prices could impact Steam Deck, Steam Machine, or next generation consoles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Steam Deck is Valve’s own handheld console, and an impressive one at that. It runs SteamOS, a Linux-based operating system built by Valve with gaming at the core of the experience, and Steam as the focal storefront.

That said, you are not locked into that ecosystem if you are willing to tinker.

Valve stopped producing the Steam Deck LCD, its most affordable model, last year. That left the Steam Deck OLED as the only version still in production.

Now, users have begun noticing that the Steam Deck OLED has seemingly gone out of stock across the US and several Asian regions.

Regions where the Steam Deck OLED is currently sold out include the US and Canada, as well as Komodo, Valve’s official distributor for Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Is this a temporary shortage or something bigger?

Spotted by popular deal hunter Wario64 on X, last night, and further reported on by sites like TomsHardware.

Valve has yet to comment on the lack of stock in the US and parts of Asia. Europe, however, still appears to have inventory, and here in the U,K there is even Steam Deck LCD stock available, which is surprising given production officially ended last year.

There are also reports of stock potentially returning in some regions, though there is currently no indication of when that might happen in the US or Canada

Given current market conditions, with RAM and storage prices climbing and showing little sign of stabilizing, some are speculating that Valve could raise hardware prices. That remains purely speculation for now.

If we keep the tin foil hat on for a moment, rumors of a Steam Deck 2 have circulated for years. Valve has previously said it does not want to release a successor unless it represents a meaningful leap in performance, and at today’s pricing and power levels, that moment may not have arrived yet.

Valve has also reportedly delayed its Steam Machine plans due to rising component costs, which have been heavily impacted by AI-driven demand.

There is still a strong chance this is simply a temporary stock fluctuation and nothing more. If that changes, we will update this article accordingly.

For now, there are other capable handheld options available, including the Xbox Ally. Microsoft is gradually refining the handheld experience on Windows to feel more console-like, bringing it closer to the simplicity that makes SteamOS so appealing on Steam Deck.

Do you think this is just a temporary stock issue, or could something bigger be happening with Steam Deck? Let us know your thoughts in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Valve's ready-made miniature Steam Machine gaming PC was announced in November last year with a tentative release window of early 2026, targeting the Spring. I predicted that the component pricing crisis might affect those plans (as did many PC gaming enthusiasts), and a recent blog post from the company has confirmed those suspicions.

Production costs of RAM and similarly critical PC parts have been an issue for a while, and Valve says the shortages have "rapidly increased" since its announcement. The Steam Machine reveal came as part of a trio, with a new Steam Frame VR headset and an all-new design for its failed Steam Controller, but exact pricing plans, particularly for the first two, have now changed.

Valve's plan to ship all three of its new hardware variants in the first half of 2026 "has not changed", but the latest post clarifies that it currently can't confirm an exact release date, nor prices for any of them. These hardware shortages driven by AI certainly seemed unavoidable for the Steam Machine and its siblings, leaving impatient gamers with little choice but to build their own.

There aren't any concrete dates to look forward to regarding new price plans, as expected, given the uncertain state of component availability. For now, Valve says it will "keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible," and will instead dedicate some time to answering common questions about the upcoming hardware.

Windows Central's take

Valve maintains that "the majority of Steam titles play great at 4K 60FPS with FSR" on Steam Machine, which is undoubtedly the part I'm interested in confirming for myself.

While image upscaling technology like AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is a reasonably capable answer to NVIDIA's Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS), it's a particularly bold claim for a PC with only 8GB of VRAM in its GPU.

I've been more than ready to spend my own money on the Steam Machine and that weird Steam Controller puck since its announcement, but the longer we wait, the more it starts to feel like the window of opportunity is getting smaller.

If the SteamOS-based PC only supports an older version, like FSR 3.1, rather than the modern "Redstone" (FSR 4), that claim will be heavily scrutinized. Playing Balatro at 4K60? Sure, but games like Borderlands 4 with performance issues and questionable 'Steam Deck Verified' badges? Probably not.

Have component pricing issues changed your mind about Valve's upcoming Steam Machine and Steam Controller, or do you still plan to buy?

Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.

Steam could be heading into another period of legal scrutiny, following a $900m ruling in the UK after being accused of “rigging the market.”

Now, Turkey is looking to dramatically change how global digital game platforms operate within the country. If adopted, the proposed legislation would not only affect Steam, but also Epic Games Store and other major storefronts, unless they agree to comply with significantly stricter content regulation and oversight.

What the proposed law would change for players, platforms, and developers

Turkey may soon require digital platforms such as Steam and the Epic Games Store to establish a legal entity or official office within the country. Platforms would also need to appoint a locally based representative responsible for compliance and communication with authorities.

If the proposal moves forward, Turkey would grant enforcement powers to the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, including the ability to throttle platform bandwidth by up to 90%. At that level, download speeds would be so restricted that access to games would become effectively unusable.

The draft law would also introduce mandatory age ratings for games sold to Turkish IP addresses. Titles without recognised classifications could be removed from sale, raising the risk of large portions of digital libraries disappearing.

The legislation was drafted by Turkey’s Family and Social Services Ministry and is currently under review by ministry officials and relevant committees.

Industry estimates suggest that up to 60% of Steam’s catalogue could become inaccessible if the law is enacted. The impact would fall most heavily on independent developers, many of whom lack the funds or resources to secure official age ratings.

Xbox could potentially fall within the scope of this legislation, especially on PC, as the proposal is not platform-specific. Instead, it targets digital storefronts as a whole, meaning applicability would depend on how each service is classified under Turkish law.

In Microsoft’s case, the outcome would likely hinge on whether it views Turkey as a market worth the added regulatory and operational costs. With Xbox accounting for less than 10% of Microsoft’s total revenue, it is possible the company may decide that establishing additional local compliance infrastructure is not a priority if the legislation is passed.

As reported on by turkiyetoday, the legislation still remains as a draft, and there is currently no planned timeline for changes.

Do you think global game platforms should comply with Turkey’s proposed rules, or would the cost outweigh the benefits for both companies and players? Let us know in the comments and make sure to take part in our poll below:

One of the hottest topics in gaming this week has been Valve's dominance in the PC gaming market, as its game distribution platform Steam boasts significantly larger user counts and revenue totals than competing storefronts. The news that a £656 million (roughly $900 million) anti-trust lawsuit in the UK has been given the go-ahead thrust Valve's business into the limelight, and sparked debates about whether or not any aspect of it is anti-competitive.

The lawsuit alleges that Valve enforces "Most-Favored Nation" price-parity clauses that prevent game developers from selling their games for less than they do on Steam on alternative platforms, which it argues enables the firm to charge devs an "excessive" 30% commission fee for every game purchase. This, it's claimed, has driven game prices up as publishers seek to recoup costs, resulting in a worse deal for consumers.

Public support for the case seems to be, overall, fairly low — we asked our readers what they thought, and the overwhelming majority think Valve's business is fine, also — though some do believe Valve is engaging in anti-competitive practices. One such critic is none other than Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, whose company maintains the Epic Games Store, one of Steam's largest rivals.

Thursday afternoon, Sweeney took to social media to take aim at one of Steam's policies that wasn't explicitly mentioned in the lawsuit: its requirement that developers use the Steam microtransaction API to handle all in-game purchases. Basically, this means a game can only let Steam players buy add-on content in game with their Steam Wallet, and can't take that option away or offer alternatives — and as it does with full game purchases, Valve collects 30% commission on these transactions.

"Steam’s rules do explicitly prohibit games from steering players to competing purchase methods, forcing everyone to pay 30% to Valve," he wrote. "Apple and Google did the same until the court explicitly found this practice to be unlawful. Now they don’t!"

Sweeney is referring to Epic's high-profile legal disputes against both Apple and Google that targeted their policies that prevented developers from linking to external payment methods in their apps, forcing them to use the iOS App Store and Google Play Store's systems and pay a 30% cut of their revenue to Apple and Google.

Ultimately, both companies were ordered to change these policies, and now Sweeney believes Valve should have to change its rule, too.

"Today, in the USA, developers are free to steer users of iOS and Android apps to competing purchase methods. Apple and Google collect 0% on those transactions," he explained. "On computers and smartphones, Valve is the only major store still holding onto the payments tie and 30% junk fee."

"This is the practice courts found illegal for Apple and Google," he added in another post.

Some have spoken out against Sweeney's point by highlighting games like GTA Online and Final Fantasy XIV that are on Steam and have payment systems separate from Steam's. However, he says the keyword here is "in-game"; the external shops titles like these use aren't linked in the games themselves, and have to be found outside of the game client.

It's true that this is the exact same policy that Epic successfully battled Apple and Google in court over, so it wouldn't surprise me if this specific part of Valve's Steam business ends up having to change in the future, also.

With that said, I do still think victory for larger anti-trust claims like the UK lawsuit Valve is up against will be extremely difficult for their proponents to achieve, though ultimately only time will tell. It will be interesting to see where that legal action against the Steam publisher goes, and if anything comes of it.

Do you agree with Tim Sweeney that Valve requiring developers to use Steam's payment systems for in-game purchases within Steam games is anti-competitive? How do you feel about the way it runs Steam in general? Share your thoughts in the comments, and make sure to vote in our poll.

One of the biggest stories in gaming this week was the news that a £656 million (roughly $900 million) lawsuit Valve is facing in the UK has been given the go ahead by the Competition Appeal Tribunal. The case was initially filed in 2024 by the digital rights campaigner Vicki Shotbolt, with Valve trying to get it thrown out since. Ultimately, though, it can now move forward per the new ruling.

Specifically, the lawsuit zeroes its crosshairs in on Valve's PC game distribution platform Steam, with Shotbolt accusing Valve of "rigging the market and taking advantage of UK gamers" by pressuring game developers and publishers to never sell their games for lower prices than the ones they're available for on Steam.

This, Shotbolt argues, helps Valve maintain Steam's dominant position as the most popular PC gaming storefront, "shutting out" and limiting potential competition from other retailers like the Epic Games Store and GOG. She's also taken issue with the fact that Steam versions of games are only compatible with Steam versions of DLCs and add-ons, which discourages players from purchasing extra content on other platforms.

As a result, Valve can charge developers what Shotbolt calls "excessive" 30% commission rates on all game sales, which has allegedly driven them to make their games more expensive to offset that cost — ultimately resulting in a worse deal for players. Thus, the case is a collective action claim that represents 14 million Steam users in the UK, and seeks to "help people get back what they are owed."

When I covered this story earlier this week, I put up a poll asking you, our readers, if you think the way that Valve runs its Steam business is anti-competitive or not. And though I've left it open for continued voting, the results thus far have made what you think loud and clear:

At the time of writing, 690 of you have voted in that poll — and 577, a whopping 84%, believe that Valve's Steam business practices aren't anti-competitive, and that Shotbolt's case against the publisher doesn't hold any weight. 113 hold the opposite view, and support the arguments she's made against the firm.

That's a significant difference, and it suggests that the lawsuit against Valve won't have much public support from PC gamers. Of course, public opinion isn't what determines final rulings in court cases, but I do think the fact most of you believe the case is weak indicates Shotbolt has a very uphill battle to fight.

For one, it will have to be proven that Valve enforces price-parity clauses, or undergoes some sort of process to significantly pressure developers into not offering better prices on platforms besides Steam. No such policy is listed publicly; Valve only requires that devs offer equivalent deals on Steam "within a reasonable amount of time" if they run discounts on Steam keys on different stores. Considering Steam is still the platform the game will be played on, that seems perfectly reasonable.

I imagine it will also be extremely difficult for Shotbolt to argue against Steam games only working with Steam DLC, as this is a limitation shared across other big PC platforms like GOG and the Epic Games Store (as well as the console market). The 30% commission rate Valve charges is also used by GOG, which means Steam's fee doesn't exactly stand out.

With all of that said, this case has been backed by the Milberg London LLP law firm that's "defending the rights of victims of corporate wrongdoing," and there was enough here for the Competition Appeal Tribunal to give it the green light to continue. Shotbolt and her partners could have a decent chance of winning, which may yield compensation for the aforementioned 14 million Steam users in the UK.

For now, all we can do is wait. We may not see further developments in the case for a long time, but its potential ramifications are huge, so it's definitely one to watch.

Where do you stand on this debate? Do you agree with the case against Valve that its Steam business is anti-competitive, or do you think the way it's running things is fine? Let me know in the comments, and add your vote to our poll below.

Valve — the creator of Steam, the biggest PC gaming storefront in the world — is facing a £656 million (roughly $900 million) class-action lawsuit in the UK. Originally filed in 2024 by digital rights activist Vicki Shotbolt, the case has now been allowed to continue by the Competition Appeal Tribunal per a new ruling.

The claim accuses Valve of "rigging the market and taking advantage of UK gamers" by contractually obligating publishers and developers to not sell their games on other platforms at lower prices than the versions available on Steam. This "forces" them to always give Steam the best deal and limits potential offers to customers, it's argued.

It's also claimed that Steam's versions of games only working with Steam's versions of DLC add-ons and expansions is anti-competitive, as it dissuades players from buying extra content for their games elsewhere and locks them into continuing to buy on Steam.

By "shutting out" PC gaming competition like this, Shotbolt asserts, Valve has been able to charge game studios an "excessive commission" of 30% for every game sold on its platform. The lawsuit argues this has driven costs up for players as developers seek to recoup revenue lost to this commission rate.

Ultimately, Shotbolt says she filed the lawsuit "to stop this unlawful conduct and help people get back what they are owed." Officially, it's a collective action claim that represents 14 million Steam users in the UK that have purchased games and add-ons on the platform since 2018.

Notably, the lawsuit has been backed by Milberg London LLP, a firm that specializes in "defending the rights of victims of corporate wrongdoing," and is currently challenging Apple, PlayStation, and several car manufacturers like BMW and Mercedes in other cases in addition to Valve and Steam.

"Competition law is there to protect consumers and ensure that markets work properly," commented partner Natasha Pearman. "When they don’t work properly and consumers are harmed, collective actions of this kind provide consumers with a voice and a way of holding big companies, like Valve, to account."

Valve isn't just facing litigation in the UK. It's also up against a lawsuit in the US filed by four gamers from states California, Florida and Missouri in August 2024, with its proponents highlighting the same pricing contracts and commission rates. "Valve’s staggering profits have been generated at the expense of consumers who are overcharged when they purchase games and in-game content at inflated prices from Steam," reads the claim.

Steam has enjoyed over 132 million monthly active users since 2021, and generated over $16 billion in revenue in 2025 according to Alinea Analytics market research. That's at least a 5.7% increase over 2024's total revenue, and potentially over 6% since that data was recorded a little under a month before the end of the new year.

Valve has notably begun to ramp up the hardware side of its business in recent years, introducing the Steam Deck in 2022 that jumpstarted a huge handheld gaming PC market. This year, it's also releasing the console-like Steam Machine and a new Steam Controller.

I think Shotbolt will have a hard time arguing against Steam games only being compatible with Steam DLC, as that's a limitation shared by every PC gaming store, and console ecosystems too. Overall, though, we'll just have to wait and see if anything comes of this — and since cases like this take years, we'll likely be waiting for a very long time.

What do you think about the lawsuit against Valve and Steam? Do you think it will go anywhere, or do you think Valve will get out of this one without much trouble? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Adobe's world-famous Photoshop and other parts of its larger Creative Cloud suite are starting to function on Linux distributions via tweaks to the WINE compatibility layer. Curiously enough, developer "Phiality" initially has a GitHub pull request for Valve's fork of WINE in mind, built for its Proton layer in SteamOS and hardware like the well-loved Steam Deck gaming handheld (via Reddit).

Essentially, this means that Steam, the PC gaming launcher and storefront, makes it easier for Adobe users to work around an incompatibility roadblock and extend their workflow to Linux, rather than falling back on Windows 11 or macOS. Right now, this is extremely unofficial and has no involvement from Valve, and can be done without Steam at all, but it shows promise nonetheless.

Phiality's contributions to WINE target incompatibilities with Windows-centric 'mshtml' and 'msxml3' dependencies and core services that, at least so far, have hampered the ability to use Adobe's apps on Linux outside of a virtual machine. Now, the Creative Cloud appears to run with the latest release and has been tested "with Photoshop 2021 and 2025."

Update on the Adobe CC Installers Patch - Now the Collection Installer works too from r/linux_gaming

It sounds like a small hurdle, but overcoming issues where Adobe's installer expects missing parts of Microsoft's OS could open the floodgates to a wide variety of its apps running closer to natively on Linux. It's a big reason for keeping some users, including myself, in a dual-boot setup with Windows 11, and certain professions still demand the use of its Creative Cloud over any alternatives.

That might not be the case forever, as more users in creative fields are seemingly choosing artificial intelligence and generative AI models for visual work. Adobe's share price is already falling, and software-as-a-service in general is struggling to compete with the convenience and near-undetectable results of tools like Google's Nano Banana Pro, overtaking even ChatGPT's DALL-E.

Still, more platform choices for Photoshop only benefit the average consumer — Windows 11 is still my primary operating system, but Linux played a bigger role in my life throughout 2025 and remains a convenient (and free) alternative when I need it. While alternatives like GIMP and Krita offer native image editing software for Linux, Adobe still holds an undeniable advantage in the industry, and I'll be watching this development with a keen eye.

Do you use any of Adobe's Creative Cloud apps? Or have you already found an alternative that works for you? Let me know in the comments to give me an idea of how mainstream Photoshop is in 2026.

When Steam creator and longtime steward of the PC gaming storefront Valve announced the Steam Machine in November, it made some very big waves. Interest in a SteamOS-powered PC designed for the living room that blurs the line between PC and console gaming is high, and so is trust in Valve after the tremendous success of the Steam Deck, the device that propelled the market for handheld gaming PCs into the limelight.

With the Steam Machine's early 2026 release window rapidly approaching, something many have wondered about is how difficult it will be for games to get a "Verified" badge for the Steam Machine; this title from Valve is given to games that it's determined will run well on Steam Deck through testing, and there will be a badge like this for the Steam Machine, too.

The publisher has now addressed this in a new interview with Game Developer, with designer Lawrence Yang explaining that there will be "fewer constraints" to contend with in order for a developer to get their game a "Steam Machine Verified" status.

He also said that "One easy rule of thumb is that if your title is Verified on Steam Deck, it will be Verified on Steam Machine," and that Valve will "be going through the same rounds of testing and providing developer feedback" for granting VR titles Steam Frame verification.

Ultimately, this means that all Steam Deck Verified games will be Steam Machine Verified, too — a result of the system's more powerful hardware specs that compete against the Xbox Series X and PS5, no doubt — and should run well without trouble. It also means that developers will have an easier time getting games to be verified for Steam Machine than Steam Deck, leading to a larger library of Steam Machine Verified titles.

That's good news for game devs and publishers; because that Verified badge signals to players that a game will run well, it's a powerful marketing tool that helps drive sales. Verification is indicative of good performance even on traditional PC rigs, and that's a factor PC players frequently consider when choosing whether or not to buy a title.

Notably, Valve engineer Steve Cardinali also took some time to talk about the new Steam Deck-inspired Steam Controller that will be included with the Steam Machine (you'll also be able to buy it separately) in the same interview, focusing on its accompanying puck accessory that serves as both a wireless receiver and a charger.

Though considered strange by some, Cardinali explains that it was designed to address a few noteworthy issues with standard wireless controller use. Firstly, while you can still use Bluetooth for the controller, Valve went with its own adapter to avoid the "highly variable" nature of spaces with lots of Bluetooth-connected devices in it.

Often, people plug wireless adapters into their PC's rear USB ports next to several others, which can cause interference. To encourage avoiding this practice with the Steam Controller's puck, Valve gave it a USB cable and charging capabilities, encouraging users to leave it in a more forward, open location "where it's likely to have minimal interference while providing a really easy charging experience."

The company's ultimate goal with the Steam Controller and its puck was to create an "It just works" experience, and with smart design choices like these, that will hopefully be how it feels to use it. We'll know for sure when the controller and Steam Machine come out in the near future.

What are your thoughts on the Steam Machine? Do you plan on getting one whenever they become available? How about the new Steam Controller? Let me know how you're feeling in the comments.

I've dabbled with Linux in the past, but I've regularly given up and moved back to Windows. That changed in 2025 when I decided to dig in my heels and stick with one distro. You see, my personal desktop has way too many power-hungry components, including an RTX 4090 GPU, so running a mini PC as my daily driver made me more willing to switch between two operating systems.

Heading to practically any social media platform and looking for conversations around Windows 11 will show you that the overall perception of Microsoft's modern operating system is less than stellar. Sure enough, Windows 10's EoL status exacerbated it, as thousands of users with outdated hardware were forced to choose between a life support extension or to upgrade to Windows 11.

However, the minimum hardware requirements made that impossible for some. Of course, if you're tech-savvy enough, you'll know that those "requirements" can be taken more as a suggestion than as a demand, and bypassing them has been possible for a while. At least that would be a relevant sentiment if the majority of everyday users were excited to upgrade, which certainly never felt like the case throughout 2025.

Recently, I put the feelers out to our community of readers to ask, "What's wrong with Windows 11?" Many of the comments I had expected were longstanding complaints about the Start menu and excessive memory usage in official apps. Others echoed the now-common complaints about the overexposure to artificial intelligence through integration where it needn't belong, such as Copilot in Notepad.

It's the latter that seems to matter most for the future of Windows, and the likelihood of Windows 12 becoming an agentic OS since Microsoft shows no signs of dropping its plans around local and cloud-based AI. Does it matter? Well, it depends. If more functions become mandatory, and Microsoft removes more agency from its users in favor of agentic AI models, then I can definitely imagine a repeat of EoL holdouts refusing to upgrade.

The "Iron Wall" is familiarity, not compatibility

So, if enough users really are threatening to jump ship, where will they go? Can Linux serve as a 1:1 replacement for Windows when it's missing native support for some popular apps, or would a move to Apple's well-established macOS make more sense? In my experience, the app problem isn't as much of an issue as it might seem, and many have open-source alternatives up for grabs.

Then again, it certainly isn't flawless, as I occasionally run into hardware that behaves unexpectedly in the various Linux distributions that I've tried — not that they can't be remedied, but 30 minutes of troubleshooting in forums isn't an appealing prospect for your average PC user. For now, I've had more success selling die-hard Windows fans on familiar-looking desktop environments.

Shells like KDE Plasma and Cinnamon made Fedora and Linux Mint the most palatable when I first dabbled in the vast ocean of distros, particularly the former because it's the same as you'll find on Valve's still-beloved Steam Deck while in Desktop Mode (as opposed to the default Gaming Mode).

Dig deeper, and you'll see popular alternatives like WINUX and Zorin OS, with the latter offering a comfortable middle ground for users moving away from Windows (and macOS) with a customized variant of the GNOME shell. Those two are likely tempting, but I'd still guide curious newcomers to Linux Mint for everyday productivity and promote Bazzite for PC gaming.

If nothing else, distros like Bazzite could mark a significant (if relatively minor) shift away from sole Windows 10/11 usage toward dual-booting with Linux, as it has been shown to improve performance in a particular selection of games. Then again, gamers like to think we occupy a significant portion of PC users (myself included), but in reality, we're a drop in the ocean.

There are still teething problems that keep me coming back to Windows 11, like my efforts to back up my physical collection of Blu-rays with an external, USB-powered drive running into errors on Linux that I simply don't have time to troubleshoot. Everything just works on my primary Windows drive, including Adobe's suite, but I can admit most of my app preferences are just habitual.

Even with these early signs of fluctuating OS adoption, I see no reason to believe Microsoft will lose its position as the most dominant desktop OS manufacturer in the next decade. If I had to predict what might cause any further apprehension from its long-serving users, it would be how the giant decides to handle the previously mentioned agentic AI in future versions of Windows.

Again, it wouldn't be enough to affect the majority — because most bystanders don't factor the ethics of AI into their everyday lives — but I can't ignore the negative community responses to Firefox embracing more (albeit optional) AI implementations, and the broader anti-AI sentiment across social media in general.

Windows is just too ingrained in the world's tech for any single-digit percentage shifts to be a concern just yet. Besides, Apple would have a better chance of riding high with greater macOS saturation before the "Year of the Linux Desktop" could ever enjoy the limelight, especially if affordable MacBooks are ramped up in 2026.

Then again, with the ongoing RAM crisis, any notion of affordable computing could be a pipedream, too. Here's hoping that CES 2026 has some good news for us on that front. Perhaps even Microsoft can regain the trust of the people who used to care the most with some real innovation next year, rather than tired iterations — and try not to cancel any of it this time.

Is Linux a threat to Windows' OS domination, or are we more likely to see a harmonious age of dual-booting for the best of both worlds? Does Apple's macOS even factor into the equation? Let me know in the comments!

Steam has been around since 2003, laying the groundwork for modern digital storefronts. Despite early backlash from PC players, it gradually became the go-to platform by putting users first and offering far more than just a place to buy games.

Over time, Steam evolved into an all-in-one ecosystem, combining a storefront, social features, a mod hub, and a central launcher for digital libraries. That broader focus helped it cement its position at the centre of PC gaming.

Today, Steam is the dominant PC game distribution platform, leaving little room for competitors like Epic Games and Xbox to make meaningful headway. More than 90 percent of Steam users are on Windows, and the platform regularly sees over 100 million monthly active users across all operating systems.

Steam’s December update pushes it into the 64-bit era

Perhaps long overdue, the Steam client is now fully 64-bit on Windows 10 and Windows 11, applying to 64-bit versions of the operating system. Systems still running 32-bit Windows will continue to receive updates until January 1, 2026.

For those unfamiliar with what this will achieve, moving Steam to a 64-bit client brings some benefits, including improved memory access, better stability, and a stronger foundation for future updates with better performance.

This is not the only change included in Steam’s latest update. Friends and Chat have received long-awaited improvements, including the ability to report suspicious or harassing messages directly from within a chat window.

Elsewhere, Valve has addressed issues affecting Big Picture Mode and Remote Play, alongside a broader set of fixes and quality of life improvements.

Steam Input also sees meaningful additions, with Nintendo Switch 2 controllers now supported over USB on Windows, as well as GameCube adapters in Wii U mode with rumble support, which is a surprising addition to see in the patch notes.

Alongside new hardware support, the update introduces refinements to gyro controls. It resolves issues where DualSense Edge, Xbox Elite, and Nintendo Joy-Con controllers were failing to pair correctly or load the appropriate configuration.

Steam’s shift to a 64-bit client is a big step forward for Windows users, but it also marks the beginning of a wider transition away from older systems. Have your say below and let us know how this update affects you.

In a surprise move, or perhaps not so surprising given current market conditions, Valve has not only stopped stocking the Steam Deck LCD in the U.S., but has also explained that it is phasing out the entry-level gaming handheld.

Other regions may follow, but that has not been confirmed, and Valve has yet to officially comment on the phasing out of the LCD model.

The Steam Deck LCD has been Valve’s most affordable handheld to date. If I’m allowed to speculate, rising RAM and storage prices could be part of what is making the LCD model harder to justify in the current market.

Typically priced at $399, the Steam Deck LCD has been one of the most affordable handheld PCs, especially for what it can do. That was even more true over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, when it was discounted by 20%, which could suggest Valve was keen to get rid of remaining stock.

Good bye, Steam Deck LCD — You were an amazing handheld

I’ve actually recently purchased a Steam Deck OLED for my sister for Christmas, but it is still sad to see the LCD variant being phased out. It could be down to rising component costs, but Valve has not confirmed a reason.

When visiting the Steam Deck storepage, users are given a disclaimer stating:

The original Steam Deck began shipping in February 2022, and it helped push PC handhelds into the mainstream, long before the ROG Ally, Xbox Ally, and Legion Go handhelds came to the market.

If the Steam Deck LCD continues to disappear from shelves, the OLED effectively becomes the default option for new buyers. On Valve’s own comparison page, the Steam Deck OLED starts at $549, which is a tougher ask than the Steam Deck LCD's $399 entry point for a lot of people.

If you have been waiting for a Steam Deck LCD, this may be your last chance to grab one at its best price, before availability tightens and resellers move in. Scalpers always seem to show up at the worst time

I'm certain the Steam Deck LCD will end up being remembered fondly. Still, this does set an awkward precedent for future Valve hardware that people hoped would hit a “console-like” price point.

If component pricing stays high, it becomes harder to imagine any so-called Steam Machine-style device landing as a genuinely affordable box, especially as Xbox has confirmed its next console will be a high-end premium device.

It is a bit of a shame to see the Steam Deck LCD quietly disappear, especially as it played such a big role in making PC handhelds feel accessible in the first place.

What do you think about Valve ending Steam Deck LCD production? Do you think it's a good idea for Valve to only sell the OLED option going forward? Tell us about it in the comments.

As we're nearing the end of the year, Valve has finally released Steam Replay 2025, a little year in review recap for anyone with a Steam account that shows your various game stats over the last 12 months.

This year, these stats include how many games you've played, your most played games, most played genres, the number of achievements you've unlocked, and how you compare with other Steam users.

Here's how to see your Steam Replay 2025.

How to check your Steam Replay 2025

All you have to do to see your Steam Replay 2025 year in review is go to Steam, but here are some more thorough instructions.

How to check Steam Replay on PC or mobile

1. Using a web browser, go to Steam's homepage.
2. Click the button in the banner that says, "Review your Year on Steam."
3. Wait for it to load and then scroll down to see your results.

After a few moments your personal Steam Replay should show up and you'll be able to view your various stats.

How to check Steam Replay 2025 on Steam Deck (and handhelds that run SteamOS)

1. With your handheld on, press the Steam button.
2. Select Store.
3. Use the D-Pad to select the More tab at the top of the page (or tap it with your finger).
4. Select Steam Replay on the right side of the screen.

From there, it's just a matter of scrolling down to view your Steam Replay information. Enjoy looking over the last 12 months of Steam gaming!

I've spent a lot more time on my other handhelds this year

When I first saw my own Steam Replay 2025 results, I was surprised to see that I've only played a total of five games on my Steam Deck this year.

But then I realized that I've spent most of the year playing my Steam games on the various devices I've reviewed, including the new Xbox Ally X and Legion Go 2. I wish there were a way for it to tell me how many games I've played on handhelds rather than just Steam Deck, but I also get why Valve doesn't do that.

Of course, the number of overall titles I played on Steam this year was also down since I spent a lot of time playing games on Xbox Game Pass, including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and Blue Prince.

Now over to you. After you've looked at your own Steam Replay, tell us what you think about your stats this year.

Are your stats where you thought they'd be? Drop a post in the comments.

Barely a month ago, we shared how classic Halo multiplayer was rebuilt in the 'Project Misriah' mod for Counter-Strike 2 with "weapons, original sound effects, character models, and movement inspired by Halo 3". Originally available on Steam, the project has since been flagged by Tracer AI, an artificial intelligence bot that issues takedown notices on behalf of its partners (via PC Gamer.)

This DMCA notice specifically applies to the Steam Workshop for Counter-Strike 2, which acts as a one-click modification catalog where every part is listed free of charge. Yes, the mod itself is totally non-profit, but the copyrighted assets were ported from Halo 3, breaking Valve's rules: "Your unauthorized use of Halo game content in a workshop not associated with Halo games infringes their rights."

The community is understandably disappointed and mostly stands on the side of Project Misriah, but this outcome was essentially inevitable. There's even an official EULA for Halo: The Master Chief Collection from several years ago that touches on the taboo concept of importing assets from other games, and vice versa, even if it's part of another Microsoft IP — it's never going to end well.

Should non-profit mods be subject to DMCA?

Fan-mode mods often walk a thin line through a gigantic gray area, but can survive if the content is inspired by other games and not directly ripped from them. Replies on X point out how maps closely resembling tracks from Mario Kart appear inside Halo Infinite, but they were built with existing assets in a way that avoids legal attention — even from brands like Nintendo with a reputation for aggressive litigation.

Opinions rarely mesh with the laws of the land, even if a closer analysis might show that free mods aren't really taking potential sales away from either side of fan-mad crossover content. Personally, I'm a big fan of Grand Theft Auto mods for its '3D era', and many keep themselves on the relative downlow to avoid the watchful eyes of parent companies like Take Two.

Still, even when fans keep asset rips within the same series, the long arm of the law can still reach out and crush their dreams. "Leave the multibillion-dollar company alone", jest regularly disgruntled fans across the modding scene, but it's an outcome I've seen time and time again — this time, it's Project Misriah.

On the other hand, would I expect publishers to turn a blind eye if its modders recreated each Halo 3 model, sound, and map from scratch with a subtle amount of legally distinct changes? It feels increasingly doubtful. Back up your favorite mods, people. Just because a game (or an entire series) can remain dormant, it doesn't mean that the lawyers behind its IP are asleep.

In another example of the many ruining it for the few, PC gamers might have a bright light on the horizon dimmed by the ever-increasing greed of massive corporations chasing a new trend: enterprise-grade artificial intelligence. Valve, the venerable brand behind the largest digital PC games platform of Steam, is planning to take another gamble in the hardware space, but it's looking riskier than ever.

This time, the problem shifts from cryptocurrency devotees vacuuming up the world's fair share of graphics cards to AI fanatics snapping up RAM while retailers drive up prices, ruining any concept of affordability for hobbyists building custom gaming desktop PCs. While GPU prices are showing signs of returning to earth, memory prices are surging to a horrific peak.

Expanding DRAM panic has some fans understandably nervous about the presumed price of Valve's Steam Machine. Its pre-built gaming PC could end up falling too far from its implied benefits as an affordable entryway for novices if it ends up being more expensive than alternatives, regardless of your plans. So, how will RAM prices affect Valve?

First, Valve hasn't confirmed any prices to date. However, our early analysis of the Steam Machine estimated a range between $650-$750, with my personal estimation resting more on that lower end for a theoretical SKU shipping without the new Steam Controller. There's no reason to expect Valve to subsidize the cost of the Steam Machine, but it aimed to deliver "a good deal" in line with the pre-RAM-crisis PC market.

The "pre-crisis" part is the key here. Whatever conversations we could have had around the Steam Machine's pricing have potentially been ruined by skyrocketing RAM prices, but there are some possible workarounds that might already be in place. For example, Valve is working with AMD on a custom Zen 4 APU (processor), similar to what was made for its excellent Steam Deck handheld PC, and if that already made it to mass production, enough units might be able to support prospective sales for a while.

The kind of long, skinny RAM sticks that you might be familiar with aren't identical to dedicated memory embedded as a tile within a System-on-Chip (SoC) processor like AMD's custom APU for Valve, but both are threatened to face scarcity as the new year is about to begin. Popular RAM manufacturer Micron has already shut down its Crucial consumer memory arm, for example.

Micron dropping long-service RAM customers in favor of "supply and support for our larger, strategic customers in faster-growing segments" is possibly the most concrete example of enterprise AI swaying brands into following suit after megacorps like Microsoft invested $80 billion into data centers. Basically, artificial intelligence detacenters require a lot of RAM, and it's being gobbled up with priority over consumer sales.

Will the RAM crisis affect the Steam Machine?

So, I can see it going a couple of ways for Valve: If it's sitting on a stockpile of APUs with embedded RAM in anticipation of the Steam Machine's launch phase (based on its experience with the Steam Deck), it might remain reasonably priced for a while. On the other hand, Valve might have just missed its window of opportunity and is about to be burned with price hikes.

Could Valve have been waiting to gauge the community's response before committing to shipments? Maybe, but I don't buy into the theory that AMD has an enormous minimum order requirement, which is something that floated around after Xbox sidelined its first-party handheld in favor of a partnership with ASUS on the Xbox Ally X.

The overarching theme is that Valve will eventually need to eat these costs if the RAM crisis doesn't settle down — and the AI "bubble" doesn't show any signs of bursting. To be clear, if we're exclusively considering enterprise-grade implementations, I don't think it's going to burst, at least not in the same way as ChatGPT and Google's AI Overviews appeal among the general population might.

Furthermore, I don't believe Valve would offer a "barebones" variant of the Steam Machine with missing parts and ask consumers to provide anything like a separate SSD for storage, because that goes against the purpose of the whole project: a console-like gaming PC that needs almost no configuration.

However, I do think that my aspirations of a $650 Steam Machine SKU without the Steam Controller are starting to look painfully unlikely, thanks to this gross RAM crisis we're suffering through.

Valve isn't a publicly traded company, so its risks are its own to take, but anything above $750 will struggle to appeal to newcomers and experienced gamers alike — and I just want more people to enjoy PC gaming. Are you planning to buy a Steam Machine or do you prefer building your own desktops? Let me know in the comments!

PC gaming giant Valve appears to be expanding its gaming software portfolio, currently building an Android compatibility layer called Lepton (via Gaming on Linux). Proof of its official name is slim, but an official Steam store page reveals its froggy logo, and SteamDB hints at its potential origins as a fork of Waydroid.

Waydroid already offers to run an Android system inside Linux, not too dissimilar to how WSL runs Linux in Windows. The creators of our beloved Steam Deck undoubtedly learned a lot from their efforts with SteamOS and Proton, a sort of in-between code translator that allows Windows PC games to run on Linux, so this is at least on-brand.

That, and we already knew that its upcoming Steam Frame VR headset will use a Snapdragon processor built by Qualcomm, so this isn't totally unexpected. Lepton will presumably allow users to run Android apps in virtual reality when the previously codenamed 'Deckard' headset launches, but it isn't too far-fetched to imagine a future where Android games are running on something like the upcoming Steam Machine desktop PC.

Besides, references to 'androidarm64' were added to Valve's Steamworks SDK a few weeks ago (via Gaming on Linux), alongside not-so-subtle hints from Brad Lynch on X that Walkabout Minigolf would be the first Android game appearing on the Steam Frame in VR. 'linuxarm64' is in there, too, related to the ARM64 Snapdragon SoC used in Valve's headset. Neat, but what about the gamers who aren't interested in virtual reality?

So far, there's barely anything more than vaporware to suggest that more AAA-like Android games might make their way to desktop PCs or SteamOS handhelds. At the very least, the foundations of Waydroid allow for this sort of thing to happen in a standard OS environment, but the demand also needs to be there.

Could you name a blockbuster Android game off the top of your head? I couldn't — and that's probably a significant factor in whether Valve would spend its resources making it happen.

This might be just a VR thing for now, especially since touchscreen games would presumably translate far better to that virtual environment than they ever would with traditional controllers. On the other hand, plenty of mobile games have added support for traditional controllers and clip-on joypads. Valve already made staggering progress in making Windows games run well (and sometimes even better) on Linux, so who knows?

Tim Sweeney, Epic’s CEO, has taken to X (Formerly Twitter) for the second time today to double down on his views on AI. Earlier in the day, he posted that games should not need to disclose their use of AI.

The reception to this was mixed. Some argued that players deserve to know what they are buying, and others felt that AI is now part of modern development and should be treated without stigma.

Now, later in the same day, Sweeney has shifted his focus to Valve’s storefront Steam, which currently requires developers to disclose any use of AI in their games.

What Tim Sweeney actually said

In response to a quote repost on X from user @BenjiGameDev, the claim was made:

It is a bold claim, and here’s what Tim Sweeney said earlier that the post was in response to:

When replying to the repost, Sweeney clarified his stance. He said:

The concerns around the use of AI in games is valid, however, there is something Tim seems to dismiss here. If AI tools do become normalized, which if we’re being honest they already kind of are, the same argument that it will hurt indie developers could be made, as these tools could flood the market with “easy” AI made games, giving less exposure to indie developers who have put more effort into their titles.

How AI is shaping creative work in game development

There is also a growing trend within the indie scene to distance projects from AI entirely, often using the absence of AI as a core selling point. Many developers feel this helps reassure players who are wary of AI influence in creative work.
Outside of indie projects, concerns remain about AI replacing creative roles. We are already seeing examples across the industry, with Black Ops 7 using AI-generated art in the final game.

This does not mean AI has no place in development. It can streamline specific processes, and it can be used responsibly when people are compensated fairly. ARC Raiders is a good example, where voice actors were paid for the use of their voice.

The worry is that AI will move beyond streamlining and begin replacing key roles entirely. That sets a problematic precedent for the future of creative work in game development.

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SteamOS, for those unfamiliar, is Valve’s Linux-based operating system. It acts as a console-like experience for the Steam Deck and for any device you manage to install it on. It offers a unified experience, and many believe it has largely achieved what Xbox wants to achieve with its own ecosystem. Cloud saves and cross-device connectivity through Steam already work across Windows, Linux, and Mac.

However, SteamOS isn’t without issues, and it may never overcome its biggest hurdle. More games are moving toward kernel-level anti-cheat systems and the growing requirement for Trusted Platform Module 2.0 support.

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Developer concerns and Valve’s response to anti-cheat limitations

Recently, Valve unveiled the Steam Machine, a new PC and console hybrid designed to sit under your TV or anywhere its small form factor fits. With that announcement, Facepunch Studios COO Alistair McFarlane recently explained why Rust will not receive SteamOS or Linux support. Rust is a popular multiplayer game that focuses on base building and long-term survival against other players.

McFarlane shared on Reddit that the team does not plan to support Proton or Linux, saying:

Rust is not the only game taking this approach. Apex Legends dropped support on Linux in 2024. Other major titles, such as Call of Duty, Battlefield 6, Valorant, League of Legends, and Fortnite, also cannot be played on Linux. For many players, that immediately rules out Linux as a viable platform.

There is still hope for improvement, and Valve has acknowledged the issue publicly. Pierre-Loup Griffais, a software engineer at Valve, said the company is actively working on anti-cheat solutions for SteamOS, stating:

Valve’s biggest remaining challenge

Valve’s new hardware roadmap is strong, with the Steam Machine, Steam Deck, and more on the way. However, price is still a major factor for these devices, and while Valve subsidised the Steam Deck, it has confirmed this will not be the case for the Steam Machine.

Even so, it is encouraging to see Valve continue pushing forward on these issues. Kernel-level anti-cheat systems blocking support for major multiplayer titles remains the biggest hurdle. Whether those changes will likely depend on how convincing Valve can be as it works with developers, and whether SteamOS grows into a large enough install base that developers can no longer ignore it. If that happens, studios may have to cooperate more closely with Valve to get these systems working on Linux.

Despite strong efforts from Valve, which is ahead in the handheld space compared to Microsoft, this barrier could still prevent SteamOS from truly growing. Many of today’s most played games rely on anti-cheat support, and that is not a concern for Windows-based handhelds like the Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X.

Those devices feel rough around the edges right now because of an underwhelming user experience. Once that improves, I can see most people leaning toward whichever handheld plays the most popular games on the go.

But what do you think? Let us know in comments!

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Steam Machine is Valve’s second attempt at entering the console space, with the original Steam Machine launching around a decade ago and failing in a big way. Valve did not walk away from the idea, and this time it feels like it might be cooking something more promising.

The new Steam Machine runs on SteamOS, Valve’s Linux-based operating system that delivers a console-like experience, while still allowing users to install Windows if they prefer.

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Excitement has grown because of the success of SteamOS on Steam Deck and the rise of Linux gaming on Steam.

Since its reveal, the biggest question has been the price. Valve has not confirmed it yet, but speculation is growing, and Valve has dropped hints about what people should expect. Based on what has been said so far, expectations are starting to look uncertain.

What Valve have actually said

According to Valve, the price of the Steam Machine will sit in line with what it would cost to build a PC with similar performance. Estimates put that anywhere from around 700 dollars up to nearly 1,000 dollars, which feels unlikely to make an impact in the console market, especially in the current climate in the US.

Another major factor is that Valve has confirmed it will not subsidise the price of the Steam Machine as it did with the Steam Deck. Traditional consoles can launch at a loss, as platform holders make money back through software sales, which is why consoles have usually been more accessible, and why the Steam Deck arrived at a much friendlier price point.

With the Steam Machine, Valve has no intention of doing that, which means the hardware cost could be higher than many people are willing to pay for something new. That becomes even more of a concern when the system will not be able to play the biggest multiplayer games, such as Call of Duty, Fortnite, or Minecraft.

The news comes from YouTuber SkillUp, who asked Valve Software Engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais directly about pricing and whether Valve would subsidize the device, and Griffais replied with:

It is good that Valve is being upfront about pricing, but it is still disappointing. In my view, if it cannot land at a competitive price, Steam Machine risks repeating the outcome of the original attempt, where it failed to find a clear audience and never gained momentum.

That would be a shame, because the market needs more competition to keep pushing forward, and a strong living room device built around Steam could have been exactly that.

What do you think? With no subsidies, does the Steam Machine stand a chance, and is this a good opportunity for Microsoft and Xbox to try to compete? Let us know in the comments!

More Black Friday 2025 - quick links

• All our TOP recommended Black Friday deals: Just the best
• Mini PC deals: up to 47% off tiny PCs
• GPU deals: early price drops on NVIDIA RTX before they go up
• Microsoft Surface deals: save up to $500 on premium PCs
• Xbox accessories: best deals on gadgets for your Xbox Series X|S and PC
• Gaming laptop deals: the best laptops for the best price
• Xbox controllers: our top picks for best controller deals
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• Walmart: 7 top laptop deals you shouldn't miss
• Samsung monitors: the best Samsung display deals we've found
• Retro gaming: handhelds, arcade machines, old school consoles, and more
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• Accessories: Even more PC accessories starting at $17
• SSDs: The best Samsung SSDs on sale

Valve has announced its first all-in-one VR headset, dubbed the Steam Frame, which runs SteamOS and is powered by a 4nm Snapdragon SoC. The headset is the first Snapdragon-based SteamOS device on the market, meaning Valve is supporting Arm with the SteamOS platform, perhaps laying the foundations for an Arm-based gaming handheld future.

Up until now, pretty much all PC gaming handhelds on the market are powered by AMD chips. Even the latest Xbox Ally and Xbox Ally X are powered by AMD chips, instead of Qualcomm's own. So far, all official SteamOS devices are also x86 only, with no official support for Snapdragon-based PCs.

That might soon be changing now that the Steam Frame is official. The Frame is Valve's first Snapdragon-powered SteamOS device, running a 4nm Arm SoC paired with 16GB RAM. The chip will power the entire experience, from the OS to the games and the displays.

It's unknown what chip Valve is using exactly, but we know Qualcomm offers OEMs a range of specialist XR chips such as the high-end Snapdragon XR2+ Gen2 SoC, which would be the right call for a fully-fledged gaming VR headset like the Steam Frame.

Of course, a wearable headset isn't a gaming handheld at all, but that doesn't mean foundations aren't being laid with this device. Now that SteamOS officially supports Arm via the Snapdragon XR SoC, it's only a matter of time before we see SteamOS running on a gaming handheld that's also powered by a Snapdragon SoC.

It's quite unlikely that this will be the only Arm-based SteamOS device going forward. With NVIDIA rumored to be launching its N1X chips next year, it's reasonable to expect we'll see NVIDIA-powered Arm-based gaming handhelds in the near future too, and SteamOS will be well prepared to support it.

Although not directly, this should also benefit Windows on Arm. All Windows-powered gaming handhelds to date run an x86 processor, even though Windows has fully embraced Arm over the last handful of years. Qualcomm is eager to enter this market, and there's no reason why an OEM couldn't make a Snapdragon-powered Windows gaming device today.

But with SteamOS now beginning to support Snapdragon, perhaps OEMs will take a second look at the architecture. It'll be interesting to see how games perform on a Snapdragon-based SteamOS device, especially with Proton in the mix. In most cases, x86 gaming handhelds run better with SteamOS compared to Windows 11, so it'll be interesting to see if the same happens when both OSes are powered by Arm.

Valve hasn't announced pricing or exact availability for the Steam Frame, though it has said to expect it to arrive sometime in the first half of next year. The Steam Frame is a clear competitor to Apple's Vision Pro and Samsung Galaxy XR headsets, both of which are premium high-end headsets, though Valve's will have an edge in gaming.

Of course, Microsoft only just recently threw in the towel on any and all XR efforts. It was first to market with AR glasses with HoloLens in 2015, followed up with a successor in 2019 that was even more capable. Unfortunately, Microsoft has scrapped plans to release any more XR headsets, conceding the market to Google, Apple, Valve, and Meta.

Alongside the Steam Frame, Valve has also announced a new Steam Machine "console," with an AMD processor. The company says it's 6 times more powerful than the Steam Deck, and is competing directly with Xbox, PlayStation, and Windows PC gamers. It also runs SteamOS and is a clear attack on Microsoft's vision to turn Xbox into an ecosystem.

PC gaming mega-brand Valve surprised us all this afternoon with a trio of hardware announcements, including the return of its once-abandoned Steam Machine mini PC concept, alongside a revival of its similarly ill-fated Steam Controller and, finally, the Steam Frame headset, a sequel to the much more successful (and still marketed) Valve Index for virtual reality PC gaming. For me, the first is arguably the most interesting.

You'd have to survey an astronomical number of PC gamers before you found one who didn't know about Valve and, in turn, its software platform Steam. Industrial naming trend aside, the dominant figures at Valve are responsible for some of the nerdiest and most influential software in prominent gaming categories, such as the paradigmatic Half-Life and its contributions to the first-person shooter genre.

Now, after the roaring success of its still-beloved Steam Deck handheld gaming PC, Valve is seemingly taking everything it learned from its Linux-based SteamOS and its overwhelmingly broad adoption via the Steam Deck and its OLED variant and applying it to a new generation of gaming mini PCs. Not that I wish to imply the effort had gone to waste, but Valve has tried all this before.

Back in 2014, Valve unveiled an initial range of OEM partners ready to develop their own take on Steam Machine desktop PCs, targeting prices "as low as $499 and top end systems rivaling today’s bleeding edge gaming PCs." Of particular interest in this first announcement is the inclusion of the $49.99 original Steam Controller, packaged in each box as standard, unlike the new Steam Machine.

Even if you weren't paying particularly close attention back then, you'll likely recognize some prominent brands if you're still interested in PC gaming today. Alienware and Gigabyte, in particular, are still extremely prevalent in 2025, though their hardware efforts aren't focused in the same way. The latter, for example, is more recognizable for its desktop components, such as motherboards and graphics cards — just like Zotac.

What happened to the first adopters?

Alienware, on the other hand, firmly remains in the gaming hardware space with high-scoring laptops like the Aurora 16|X and equivalents on the desktop side, including the powerful Area-51 pre-built gaming PCs. We weren't watching SteamOS too closely when the Steam Machine concept was first unveiled, as CES 2014 had exciting news for Windows 8, which took priority (sorry, Valve). Our friends at PC Gamer did test the Alienware Steam Machine, but Linux gaming showed it still wasn't a threat to Windows, and the compact PC didn't impress.

Would Alienware come back for another Steam Machine attempt now that Valve has refined SteamOS and its Proton compatibility layer for Windows PC games? My gut says no, but it isn't impossible. Personally, I lean towards the doubtful side simply because Dell's gaming division hasn't shown any interest in building a handheld gaming PC, despite being the ones to champion the concept with its Alienware UFO concept.

Now, a handheld and a compact desktop might seem like different beasts at a glance, but they're actually quite similar. Once you remove the screen and controller buttons, what's left is the spitting image of what you'd find in a gaming-centric mini PC. Alienware has the know-how to build a cool, quiet desktop in the style Valve wants, but if it hasn't earnestly tried to start things off with a handheld, I can't see it making the leap to a Steam machine.

Which gaming brands make more sense?

While the first wave of OEMs has the chops to deliver another compact gaming PC, a few brands have already made important steps towards dominating the handheld-like mini PC scene, primarily ASUS. If you've ever looked into the Steam Deck, chances are you've heard of the ASUS ROG Ally; the first Windows-based handheld to really challenge Valve's dominant position. The Ryzen Z1 Extreme ROG Ally is still my favorite Windows 11 option, particularly for its open access to PC Game Pass.

Lenovo is another likely pick, potentially designing a Steam Machine to fit within its Legion gaming subbrand, alongside the Windows-based Lenovo Legion Go and its successor, the Legion Go 2. It's perhaps even more likely to see Lenovo adopt the Steam Machine than even ASUS, as it already experimented with Valve's OS in its Legion Go S (SteamOS) handheld.

In the same vein, I wouldn't be surprised to see Acer and MSI join the conversation, based on their experiences with the 11-inch Acer Nitro and Intel-based MSI Claw handhelds, though the latter is shy about US availability with AMD-based Claw models. Essentially, I'd wager that we're far more likely to see current players throwing their hat into the Steam Machine ring than we would see a return from the likes of Falcon Northwest, or even a long-awaited attempt from the gaming specialists at Razer.

Besides, none of this speculation should discount Valve's in-house efforts. While its own Steam Machine looks like an Xbox Series X sliced in half, it could end up being one of the best, if the Steam Deck is anything to go by, and if it can undercut console pricing. I know that I'm already tempted to put some budget aside for the eventual launch, hoping anti-cheat is less of a problem by then, but I'd happily be swayed by an OEM offering a few extra features or a more exciting design — again, something Razer could excel at, if only they'd try something outside of monstrous Blade 18 gaming laptops.

The Steam Machine is back (among other announcements), and the success of the Steam Deck has proved that this time around, things are very different. Game compatibility is largely very good thanks to Proton, but there is still an annoying fly in the ointment.

Anti-cheat is not a blanket exclusion on SteamOS, but in some of the biggest multiplayer titles on the planet, it very much is. It's because these systems are built for Windows, more specifically, to access the Windows kernel.

SteamOS uses the Linux kernel, which is different. But will it ever change? Never say never, but right now, it doesn't look likely. Here's what's going on.

Windows-based kernel level anti-cheat can't just be made to work

The kernel sits at the very core of the operating system. Windows has its own kernel; SteamOS uses the Linux kernel. The Linux kernel is open source; the Windows kernel very much is not.

Naturally, they're both designed for different operating systems, but they're also fundamentally different architectures. An anti-cheat solution built to access the Windows kernel simply would not be able to do the same in the Linux kernel.

This article on LinkedIn is a brief overview of the differences between the two and how they operate.

PC games built for Windows 11 work on Linux, though, don't they? Yes, they do, but the kernel isn't in play here. The Proton compatibility layer, in its simplest terms, takes APIs and translates them into something Linux understands. It's a combination of WINE and specific graphics API libraries, with the latter converting DirectX into Vulkan.

It works extremely well, but it can't do anything about software that requires the deepest level of access inside Windows.

If there were ever to be a solution, Valve is the company that can make it happen. But it would likely involve specific customizations to SteamOS that wouldn't necessarily be available on other Linux distros.

SOME anti-cheat has been made to work with Linux

The likes of Riot's Vanguard, EA's Javelin, and Activision's Ricochet are a complete no-go on SteamOS. But there are some anti-cheat solutions that DO work. Valve has worked with some, including Easy Anti Cheat and Battleye, to create versions that are compatible with Linux.

Instead of trying to translate calls to the kernel (which sounds extremely difficult if it's even possible at all), these solutions have a dedicated version for Linux. They are, however, not as deeply rooted in the system as a kernel-level anti-cheat.

Essentially, instead of kernel access, the anti-cheat that does work on Linux runs in user space instead. These are decent, but they're not going to be able to do the things that full kernel-level anti-cheat can.

It's the most competitive titles that insist upon such access to the system. On Windows 11, we're also now starting to see TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot as mandatory in games such as Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.

Right now, we have the solution we have, which works, but is highly unlikely to be adopted by the most competitive titles out there. Competitive integrity is important, and if the anti-cheat can't do what it needs to do, it's pointless.

It's also down to developer discretion, even if they're using an anti-cheat that does have a version that works on Linux. It's opt-in, not opt-out, and if the developers don't want to do it, we can't have it.

Destiny 2 is a good example. It uses Battleye, and given it's not exactly known as a competitive game (though PvP players would probably disagree), you'd think they might be on board.

But because Bungie doesn't want to support Linux in any form, not even SteamOS, they haven't enabled it. So you can't play at all.

So how do you find out if a game has a working anti-cheat on SteamOS?

If you have a Steam Deck or SteamOS handheld, or you're planning to get a new Steam Machine, how do you find out if your favorite games will work?

There are three resources I recommend:

• ProtonDB
• Steam's own SteamOS compatibility checks
• Are We Anti-Cheat Yet?

Steam has a compatibility rating for every game in the catalog, and whether it'll play on a SteamOS handheld. That will likely be expanded to include the more powerful Steam Machine, broken out with its own information.

If it's playable or verified, you can play. If it's not, then you might not be able to.

Taking things a step further are two helpful community resources. ProtonDB is fantastic for not only checking compatibility, but also getting specific tips on making games run the best they can.

AreWeAntiCheatYet? focuses on anti-cheat compatibility, quickly allowing anyone to look for their favorite game and get a response.

If you don't play multiplayer games, chances are you'll rarely run into any issues on SteamOS. If you do, though, the simple truth is you either use cloud gaming or you use Windows 11.

Valve, the company that owns the immensely popular Steam storefront and that kicked off the handheld gaming craze in 2022 with the Steam Deck, just covertly announced three new Steam devices today.

The entrée is an all-new Steam Machine powered by a six-core AMD Zen 4 CPU and a semi-custom RDNA 3 GPU, together capable of delivering "4K gaming at 60 FPS" when using AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR). It's sort of like a console, except it has access to Steam's gigantic library of PC games and it runs on SteamOS.

This is actually a revival of Valve's earlier small-form-factor devices, which debuted in 2015 but mostly fizzled out by 2018. Will this second attempt at making it work gain more traction? That's anyone's guess, but the immense success that the Steam Deck has enjoyed suggests that Valve really knows what it's doing with its hardware and ecosystem.

Joining the Steam Machine are a new Steam Frame VR headset and a new Steam Controller to tie everything together, with compatibility across all of Valve's modern devices and regular PCs.

One piece of data that's missing from Valve's announcements is pricing. Valve is targeting a Spring 2026 launch for its new hardware, so there are a few months left for tariffs and supply chain breakdowns to muck things up.

However, by looking at similar hardware and Valve's competitive nature, we can surmise as to what the Steam Machine might cost when it finally debuts.

Valve didn't reveal a price for the Steam Machine — Here's what I think it will cost

Valve hasn't yet set a price for the Steam Machine, so I'll preface this by reminding you that it's all speculation.

Jumping back to the Steam Deck's launch in 2022, Valve focused on attractive pricing and a tight ecosystem with its custom OS and massive collection of games rather than raw power.

The Steam Deck's custom AMD chip wasn't cutting edge, and its display was rather ordinary. You could pick up an introductory model for $399, though, which was too good a deal for many gamers to pass up.

I'm expecting to see a similar situation with the Steam Machine. Valve has opted for a Zen 4 processor and an RDNA 3 GPU to power the device, both of which are a generation behind the latest Zen 5 and RDNA 4 architectures from AMD. Regardless, Steam says the Machine should provide more than six times as much performance as the Steam Deck.

Here's a quick look at the raw specs of the Steam Machine.

There's also not really one standout feature that I can see will drive the Steam Machine's price up, other than the option for 2TB of storage. There are no Thunderbolt licenses required from Intel (nor any USB4 for that matter), no Windows 11 licensing fees, no display, no wacky case design, no built-in controls, and basic performance specs.

Considering you can currently buy a new Steam Deck with an OLED display, four-core Zen 2 CPU, RDNA 2 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage space for $549, I wouldn't be surprised to see the new Steam Machine debut somewhere between $650 and $750.

It's worth mentioning that the Xbox Series X Digital Edition now sells for $599.99 in the US, jumping to $649.99 for a version with a disc drive. The PS5 Pro costs a whopping $749.99, but you can pick up the standard Slim edition with a disc drive for about $550.

It's expected that the next console generation will be more expensive as Microsoft attempts to further bridge consoles and PCs, but that's still a way out.

This makes it extra important for Valve to set the Steam Machine's price at something both console and PC gamers can appreciate. Too expensive, and console gamers will simply wait for the next Xbox. Too expensive, and PC gamers will build their own system for less or check out the growing selection of great mini PCs already on the market.

Steam says it plans to sell the Steam Machine alone or bundled with its new Steam Controller. With long battery life, magnetic TMR thumbsticks, and dual touchpads, I'd wager that the Steam Controller should cost somewhere between $100 and $200. Whether or not you'll see a discount with a bundle remains to be seen.

Valve's secret weapons: free online play and affordable games

Something that might get overlooked is the value that Valve's ecosystem delivers. Like the Steam Deck, and Steam Machine will run SteamOS, a custom Linux-based operating system that's stripped back to focus on performance and ease-of-use.

Valve's Steam store, the largest vendor of PC games in the world, is also a huge boon. There are countless PC-exclusive games that I wish my console gamer friends could enjoy, and the timely sales events often drive prices to unbelievable lows.

Steam's ecosystem also includes powerful social tools, making it easy to game with your friends. Best part? There's no monthly fee to get online and play, which is a requirement for console gaming.

Will tariffs, supply chains, and memory shortages drive up the Steam Machine's price?

The tech market has been under siege from tariffs, supply chain breakdowns, and component shortages for months, and the future isn't exactly looking bright. I can't predict what global trade will look like next year, but I do know that AI could cause a problem.

One of the biggest issues I see affecting the Steam Machine's Spring 2026 launch is memory and storage pricing. There is a massive DRAM shortage right now caused by the frantic buildout of AI infrastructure, and it's not expected to end anytime soon. The same surge is now affecting hard drive prices.

I have no idea what Valve's supply chain looks like, but it's hard to imagine it can escape the same squeeze that is driving $100 RAM modules for your PC up to $500 and beyond.

Given the constraints in the video game industry as of late, you might think it was a crazy move to launch anything like a new console in the coming years. Valve is no ordinary company, though.

Despite Xbox hardware being down year-over-year for several quarters and PlayStation posting a very modest 1% increase in playtime hours despite PS5 sales keeping pace with PS4 — Valve is unbothered and has decided it's time to revive its Steam Machine efforts that originally started in 2014.

Following the success of the still beloved Steam Deck, Valve is doubling down on hardware in a big way and has revealed a range of new hardware today as part of that effort. We have an all-new Steam Machine, targeting a Spring 2026 launch, as well as a long-rumored VR headset called the Steam Frame, previously codenamed Deckard. There's also a brand-new Steam Controller to go along with both. Here's everything we know so far.

Steam Machine specifications

Valve's Steam Machine (not to be confused with the 2014 Steam Machines) sports some impressive specs on paper, though it doesn't seem to outclass the Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, despite using some more modern AMD Zen 4 architecture. Valve itself says the Steam Machine is "over 6x more powerful than Steam Deck", and should offer a comparable 4K @ 60 FPS experience when stacked up against Microsoft and Sony's consoles, while soundly beating the Xbox Series S and Nintendo Switch 2.

Again, the Steam Machine uses AMD's more modern (but technically previous-generation) Zen 4 processor architecture, sporting six CPU cores with twelve threads at 4.8 GHz. Despite having fewer cores than the Xbox Series X and PS5, the process node should give it superior per-core performance. These new Steam Machines should punch above their weight owing to that updated, more efficient technology, but the Xbox Series X, PS5, and PS5 Pro in particular should easily keep pace owing to higher core counts.

It's a similar story with the GPU: the Steam Machine's recent RDNA 3 architecture also offers improved power efficiency and higher performance compared to the older generation (but still not using RDNA 4, AMD's current tech). Even the Xbox Series X|S can use the same generation of upscaling as the Steam Machine — FSR 3.

The Steam Machine sports 28 compute units (CUs) at 2.45 GHz, compared to the Xbox Series X's 52 CUs at 1.8 GHz, and PS5's 36 CUs at 2.23 GHz. Microsoft's console, again, offers the most raw graphics computational power here, but the Steam Machine will punch above its weight owing to its more modern architecture and choice of lightweight operating system, SteamOS.

Memory (RAM) is where things continue to diverge. The Steam Machine hasn't yet offered official memory bandwidth figures, but it combines 16GB of DDR5 system memory with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM for the GPU.

It has more total memory on paper than the Xbox Series X's 16GB dual-pool GDDR6 RAM and PS5's unified 16GB GDDR6 pool, but the Steam Machine's PC-like split memory design may impede its overall memory bandwidth despite having a larger amount. It should, in theory, remain competitive here with both the PS5 and Xbox Series X, but we need more information to know more to get a solid answer.

The Steam Machine oddly has only two storage options up for grabs: a 512 GB model and a 2TB model. Xbox storage cards are notoriously expensive CFExpress PCI cartridges, while the PS5 went with more standard M.2 NVMe options that users can purchase off the shelf. The Steam Machine diverges by offering microSD expansion, allowing its users to easily transfer large amounts of games from a Steam Deck and back to their Steam Machine.

MicroSD technology isn't fast enough to effectively run all AAA games, but the Steam Machine's internal storage should be more than up to the task for the majority. Although we don't have a ton of info on what's sitting inside it here, it's unlikely to be using ultra-modern microSD Express tech.

Finally, we have the operating system. SteamOS has become incredibly capable over the last few years, with Valve deploying reams of updates as part of its Steam Deck line. It's incredibly user-friendly and easy to use, and its powerful Proton layer translates Windows games to Linux without any developer input — generally speaking, at least.

Proton does have some shortcomings, namely with functions like anti-cheat systems. As such, many Windows-native multiplayer games with kernel-level anti-cheat systems don't run on SteamOS. Proton will only get better over time, too. SteamOS does allow you to exit out into full Linux desktop mode as well, allowing you to install launchers, games, and other apps not available on the Steam store itself.

You can get things like Xbox Cloud Gaming, Battle.net, Genshin Impact, and other titles that aren't available to buy via Steam like this, but it isn't always a particularly easy experience — even more so if you include the fact that you need a mouse and keyboard to navigate it effectively.

Regardless, Steam has quite literally thousands of games available directly on its store, the vast majority of which will run on this platform without issue. This will be the first "console" that has games from Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox on a single device, via a single store.

It does miss out on many of the world's most popular games that aren't available on Steam or Linux, such as Roblox, Minecraft, and Fortnite (not to mention GTA 6 at launch), but there are workarounds for many of these if you're willing to tinker. And who knows, if SteamOS begins to see broader adoption, maybe these games will come across natively as well.

Given that this is more designed for a sofa-style experience, I expect Valve will use its Steam Deck Verification process to verify games for the Steam Machine in a similar way. Though there's absolutely no reason why you wouldn't be able to plug a keyboard and mouse in and use this as a full desktop mini PC.

The Steam Machine interestingly reflects Xbox's vision for its own next-gen console, which will be more PC-like, complete with the ability to exit out to the desktop, and install other launchers and games not available natively on Xbox itself.

Valve hasn't yet confirmed pricing, although the more modern and pricy RDNA3 and Zen 4 components are a strong indicator that it might be difficult for the Steam Machine to undercut its PS5 and Xbox Series X rivals in any significant way. We'll have to wait and see there. For now, the Steam Machine is targeting that aforementioned Spring 2026 launch. Until then, you could try building your own Steam Machine.

Steam Controller specifications

Interestingly, the Steam Machine will only include a controller optionally, since the console will work with any Xbox or PlayStation controller you have lying around already. Any controller that's compatible with the Steam Deck (and that's a lot) will also be compatible with the Steam Machine.

However, if you do want or need a controller, here's what Valve is offering as a follow-up to its original, less successful Steam Controller from 2015.

The Steam Controller works with any device running Steam, which includes Windows PCs, macOS, and devices like the Steam Deck. It should also be compatible with the next-gen Xbox as well, given that the next Xbox is going to run full Windows.

It connects up with a USB "puck" which can connect four controllers simultaneously, and it also supports Bluetooth and USB wired play on top. The puck is pre-paired and has a proprietary wireless signal, which should be comparable in quality to PS5 and Xbox controllers for speed and reliability.

Where it has the Xbox and PS5 standard controllers beat is battery life, with 35+ hours on a single charge, making it more like the Xbox Elite controller. It also boasts magnetic TMR thumbsticks, which should eliminate drift in ways the Xbox and PS5 controllers currently don't.

Where things get even more interesting are the large dual trackpads, similar to that old-school Steam Controller and the Steam Deck. These support haptics and help control games that don't have native joystick support. It also supports gyro gameplay, with six-axis motion sensing.

It has ABXY Xbox-style buttons and symmetrical PlayStation-style thumbsticks, while sporting four programmable back buttons and standard triggers and bumpers. It also sports capacitive grip sense, detecting when it has been picked up.

There's no mention of price yet, but I imagine it'll sit somewhere between a standard Xbox controller and a more pricey Xbox Elite controller in price, given its impressive specs.

What do you think?

Seeing a new console launch in an era where both PlayStation and Xbox are pointing at short-form video platforms like TikTok for decreasing growth might seem like a bold move, but the Steam Machine is no typical console.

Despite some limitations of Proton and Linux, Steam remains one of the world's most popular and favored video game ecosystems. Steam sales are legendary, Valve's approach to customer satisfaction is industry-leading, and developers flock to the platform owing to its relaxed certification processes.

Steam's discovery engine is second to none. Every time I log into Steam, I discover new games I've never heard of, as the system understands my habits and has more options to cater to those habits than other platforms. Some of the world's most popular games, like Fortnite and Roblox, might not be available natively, but Steam has become home to massive viral mega-hits in recent years, such as Megabonk and Peak more recently. I wish Xbox were capable of delivering similarly, but Microsoft has been pursuing a more Steam-like feature set for its own Xbox PC platform recently, which it says is growing rapidly, too.

Rumors have been ramping up that Valve might seek to pair its Steam Machine launch with the borderline mythical Half-Life 3, too. The team at Valve makes legendary games in its own right, including DOTA2, Counter-Strike 2, Left 4 Dead, Portal, Team Fortress, and more. Valve used Half-Life Alyx to boost interest in its own VR efforts previously, so could it pull off a similar feat for the Steam Machine?

The Steam Machine will also be the first "console" in the world that comes with games from Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox as standard, as the walls around "exclusivity" become increasingly blurred. PlayStation recently said its unprecedented launch of Helldivers 2 was a huge success on Xbox, and Microsoft has been putting its games everywhere and anywhere at a breakneck pace.

What the future of the game industry looks like is anyone's guess, but Valve is becoming an increasingly interesting part of the hardware discussion, which is great to see.

FAQ