For the last couple weeks, I’ve been in an extremely lucky position: I’ve been spending a lot of time playing games on Valve’s Steam Machine.
We gave the Steam Machine a 6, and I don’t disagree with my colleague Sean Hollister’s review. But even though I already own a PS5 and an Xbox Series X, and even though I’ve experienced the Steam Machine’s drawbacks for myself, I would spend the $1,049 to buy one right now.
My PS5 and Xbox Series X can’t play the hundreds of games in my growing Steam library, don’t support Steam’s cloud saves that let me seamlessly carry progress between my Steam Deck and Steam Machine, don’t support my beloved Steam Controller, and don’t let me use mods to tweak my games exactly the way I like. (Those consoles are also just plain gargantuan compared to Valve’s diminutive box.) Compared to the Steam Deck, games look better, they play more smoothly, and I don’t hear a fan blowing all the way from my couch.
Since getting a Steam Deck a few years ago, I’ve shifted most of my gaming to Valve’s handheld, where I often play hooked up to my TV. So I figured Valve-made hardware specifically for playing games on my TV would be right up my alley, but I was a little worried after I read Sean’s review. The Steam Machine’s drawbacks are many: It’s really expensive, it competes with six-year-old console hardware, and you can’t upgrade its GPU to make games look better down the line.
And yet, I’m obsessed with how easily Valve’s tiny 6-inch cube fits into my TV console, my desk, and my life.
The Steam Machine is basically silent: I can’t think of a single time I’ve heard the Steam Machine while playing games. Not with Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, not with 007 First Light, and especially not with Balatro. It, naturally, works great with Valve’s Steam Controller, which I’ve already sung the praises of in my review. I can put it basically wherever I want in my TV cabinet — unlike my PS5 and Xbox Series X, which I have to stuff into one cabinet that can’t fit much else. I’ve also plopped it on my desk a few times and hooked it up to a monitor, and I love that I don’t have to entirely rearrange my small desk to make that work.
The Steam Machine has quickly turned into my ideal way to play games on my TV. It boots up fast with the press of a button, plays nicely with my Sonos Beam soundbar, and lets me jump right into a game in a matter of seconds. So do the Steam Deck, PS5, and Xbox Series X sitting under my TV. But I haven’t missed any of them in my two weeks with the Steam Machine.
What I did miss was a reservation to actually purchase the Steam Machine. I signed up, but I didn’t get picked. I’ll be sad to pack the Steam Machine up and return it to Sean for further testing, especially when there’s no timeline for when I might get off Valve’s waitlist.
Instead of waiting on Valve, I’ve started looking into finally building my own PC. I’m in a very lucky spot with that, too: After I told a friend that I was thinking about building a PC, they kindly offered to give me an RTX 3070 Ti GPU and a 1TB SSD. That means I can theoretically make one that’s both more powerful and more upgradable than a Steam Machine without having to pay for two of the most expensive parts.
But even though I can now afford to build a PC, I still just wish I could get a Steam Machine. I’ve had a lot of fun perusing case options like the Fractal Ridge and the Velka 7, but they’ll be a snug fit for my TV console. I’m guessing nothing I put together will be as quiet as the Steam Machine. SteamOS isn’t available on Nvidia GPUs yet, so I’ll probably have to rely on Steam Big Picture mode on Windows or use a Linux OS like Bazzite. They won’t quite be the nearly seamless SteamOS experience I’m used to.
Photo: Kelsey McClellan / The Verge
Maybe I won’t buy anything at all. Just to be real with you, I spent the weekend going back to my Steam Deck on my TV, paired with 8BitDo’s Ultimate 2 Wireless Controller, and it worked better than I remembered. Yes, I was playing a relatively lightweight game (I can’t say which, because of a review embargo). But the game played great on my TV, and I could easily pick up my Steam Deck from under the TV and bring it around the house.
It was 90 percent of the Steam Machine experience plus portability — and most of the games I play run really well on the Steam Deck already, so I’m not sure I actually need the extra headroom of a full desktop in front of my couch.
I haven’t decided what I’m going to do: make my own PC, eventually get a Steam Machine when my spot on the waitlist comes up, or just keep chugging along with the setup I’ve got. My heart wants the Steam Machine, though. If I could buy it today instead of waiting indefinitely, I’d pay the asking price.