Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun

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

Dispatches from a three-pronged hardware assault

· Rock Paper Shotgun

Ye gads, there’s three of them. You may have heard that a Valve hardware announcement was on the cards, but the Steam custodians’ biggest metal-and-circuits reveal since the Steam Deck actually concerns a power trio: a new Steam Machine, a new Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame hybrid VR headset. They're all official, and all coming (pricing and exact dates TBA) in early 2026.

I’ve had some quality hands-on time with them myself, having been mysteriously summoned to Valve HQ late last month (flying/accommodating on our own dime, before anyone gets clever). Full thoughts can be found in the links below, and I’ll say this up front: all three have a clear Steam Deck influence, be it the design language, the value of Proton-aided game compatibility, or simply the pleasure of a quality thumbstick. If you liked the handheld then... well, you might not necessarily like the Steam Machine, Controller, or Frame, but you’ll have already read the shorthand on where they’re coming from.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun

Stay tuned for more features and insights coming later today and this week, based on interviews with Valve’s in-house designers and engineers. In the meantime, let’s do some specs lists here as well. Why not, eh. The Steam Machine is set to be Valve’s most powerful in-house hardware piece thus far, leaning on a discrete AMD GPU to run modern games at upscaled 4K, while the redesigned Steam Controller sacrifices some of the original model’s idiosyncrasies in pursuit of better all-roundedness. The Steam Frame is perhaps both the most ambitious and the riskiest: its modular design, groundbreaking support for Steam games on ARM hardware, and combination of quality PC VR with standalone headset play all show great promise, but not the kind that seemed imminently fulfillable at the time of my preview session.

Steam Machine (2026) specs

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

Steam Controller (2026) specs

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

Steam Frame specs

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

Again, there’s no concrete release date or pricing for these yet, though Valve engineer Jeremy Selan told me that the while the Steam Frame specifically would be a "premium" VR headset. it'll still likely be priced "less than [the] Index." That's the Valve Index headset, the full kit of which remains at the same £919 / $999 pricepoint it launched at in 2019. We'll report any further details ahead of release next year.