Valve Officially Announces The Steam Controller, Steam Machine, And New VR Headset Coming Early 2026

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And just like that, the rumors were proven true, and I am overwhelmed with excitement. Moments ago, Valve dropped the big bombshell that they are releasing brand new hardware coming next year, and it looks like they are on track to create a PC ecosystem for you to play at home, on the go, and however you want to.

Specifically, Valve has announced three different products: The Steam Frame, Steam Controller, and Steam Machine. The Steam Frame is their next VR headset, which is its own PC. It's a completely wireless headset that runs SteamOS, and you won't need to connect to a computer. It uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. It has a variable 72-144Hz refresh rate, along with inside-out camera-based tracking, WiFi 7 support, and more. It uses LCD panels in the eyes, but the controllers look fantastic, and I very much want to try it.

Then, we have the Steam Controller, Valve's second attempt at creating a perfect PC controller, and I think they have it. It has dual trackpads, high definition rumble, magnetic thumbsticks, grip-enabled gyro, and should work perfectly with the Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and any PC. The inputs can be completely customized with Steam Input and have four back buttons as well as a magnetic connector on the back. It looks amazing, and honestly is my second favorite announcement today.

My favorite announcement is going to be the Steam Machine, which looks very interesting. It's basically a giant cube, and it looks like a super sleek design. However, it's the specs that really make me curious. The machine uses a semi-custom CPU and GPU, utilizing Zen 4 CPU cores (6 cores specifically) and RDNA 3 GPU cores (28 specifically). It also houses 16GB DDR5 RAM and 8GB GDDR6 VRAM. It is going to be interesting to see just how much power this can push into the newest games, but it should stack up pretty nicely with higher-end PCs.

There are four USB-A ports, a DisplayPort, HDMI, Ethernet, a USB-C, and MicroSD card slot, supports WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, and is of course going to be running SteamOS. It will have two storage options, 512GB and 2TB, and storage can be expanded. It looks like a perfect little portable PC, small and optimized. And the power supply is built into the PC, so you only need the AC adapter cable, no need to carry around a giant brick.

With the Steam Machine using RDNA 3 cores, it looks like FSR 4 may be tough to run, unless AMD releases a more compatible version of it, which I hope they do. However, Valve does note FSR can be used on the website.

Honestly, I couldn't be more excited. This is exactly what I was hoping to see from Valve, and while I love the controller, I have been enamored recently with the idea of a full home ecosystem for PC gaming that works hand-in-hand with my Steam Deck. Now, it seems like that will be coming true, and I will be impatiently waiting!

All of this hardware is slated for release early 2026, so hopefully, we won't have to wait long to get more details on shipping, pricing, and more.

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