Valve has opened reservations for its long-awaited Steam Machine, a living-room box for playing PC games on your TV. According to Tom's Hardware and Engadget, the device starts at $1,049 — and that price gets you a 512GB model with no controller in the box.
In a blog post detailed by Tom's Hardware, Valve laid out a randomized reservation queue designed to thwart scalpers, alongside a warning that inventory will be limited. Valve engineers Pierre-Loup Griffais and Yazan Aldehayyat told Tom's Hardware about the machine's pricing and engineering choices, including its large heatsinks, and explained that Valve's hardware needs to operate as a "self-sustained program."
The early verdict is mixed. Tom's Hardware's review calls the Steam Machine a nice, well-designed box for couch gaming, but notes you aren't getting the latest hardware despite the four-figure price — and it won't always hit 4K resolution. For tinkerers, The Verge reports that Valve will also let people build their own Steam Machine using SteamOS for desktop.
The bigger picture, according to The Verge, is that the Steam Machine signals an even more expensive future for game consoles. Consoles are seeing regular price hikes, PC components are spiking in cost, and the era of affordable handhelds is fading — trends The Verge ties largely to a global RAM shortage.
Why it matters: a $1,000-plus price tag for mid-tier hardware suggests that the cheap, accessible gaming many players took for granted may be giving way to a costlier era across the entire industry.