While Microsoft’s decisions with Xbox continue to alienate fans, Valve appears to be getting more community love than ever. Yesterday, they uploaded a Steam Hardware Announcement to YouTube, casually unveiling three new products on a random Wednesday: the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame, and a Steam Controller. All three products go on sale in early 2026.
The Steam Frame is a wireless VR headset with some new foveated streaming tech that lowers latency. As for the Steam Controller, it’s pretty much a Steam Deck but without a screen in the middle. The real star of the show, however, is the console/PC hybrid, the Steam Machine. It runs Valve’s own SteamOS, promises up to 4K gaming, and features a sleek, compact design.
Say Hello To The “GabeCube”
The Steam Machine (or the GabeCube, as fans are jokingly calling it) is a tiny, 6-inch-tall mini-PC that runs SteamOS. This is the same operating system you see on the Steam Deck. To anyone who’s not familiar with Steam’s recent advancements, SteamOS lets you play your entire Steam library on any device it’s installed on. This is one of the reasons why the Steam Deck is the most successful PC handheld.
The idea is that you put the Steam Machine in your entertainment center, hook it up to a TV, and enjoy your favorite Steam games from the comfort of your living room. SteamOS is a very streamlined experience these days, and it’s not far off from the user experience on the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. It has features like Quick Suspend/Resume, Standby, and cloud saves.
The hardware itself is also well-designed, with a magnetic front faceplate that you can swap out for a custom design. There’s also an LED strip near the bottom, which cleverly shows game download progress.
As for the performance, Valve states that this new PC can technically run any game at 4K 60 FPS, with the help of AMD’s FSR upscaling. Here’s what we’re looking at in terms of specs:
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4, 6 cores, 12 threads
- GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 GPU, 28 CUs, 2.45GHz max clock
- RAM: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- Storage: 512GB or 2TB NVMe SSD
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, Gigabit Ethernet
- Displays: DisplayPort 1.4 (up to 4K @ 240Hz), HDMI 2.0 (up to 4K @ 120Hz)
So, Why Is Everyone Talking About This?
Based on the Steam Deck, we already know that Valve is capable of delivering a great hardware experience with intuitive software. SteamOS has already been praised by anyone who’s experienced it, so the Steam Machine is good on that front. On top of that, there have been plenty of people who turned to PC gaming after a somewhat underwhelming console generation from Xbox and PlayStation.
Pricing for the Steam Machine, or the Steam Frame and Controller for that matter, is not confirmed yet. With the Xbox Series now costing $650 in the US, people are more open to the idea of getting a PC instead. If Valve manages to price this correctly, it will be a major success for them.
Finally, if you already own games on Steam, the idea of having a PC with a console-like interface is very appealing. This might be the perfect platform for sports games like Session, PGA Tour, Rocket League, and even indie sports games like Tape-to-Tape.
But there will be caveats. Notice how I didn’t mention bigger sports franchises like EA FC or Madden. SteamOS is a Linux-based operating system, which means many anti-cheat services don’t work on the platform. As a result, some games simply won’t be playable. Of course, you can get around this by installing Windows on it and dual-booting it, if you’re a tinkerer.
