Valve engineers working on the Steam Machine have warned that the global memory chip shortage driving up hardware prices is continuing to worsen, with no relief expected soon. Yazan Aldehayyat and Pierre-Loup Griffais told Bloomberg that retail RAM prices lag bulk supply trends by three to six months, meaning current shelf prices do not yet reflect the full scale of the problem, and Valve has said it cannot lower the Steam Machine's price in the near term.

The Steam Machine launched at $1,049 for the base 512GB model, rising to $1,428 for the top-tier 2TB version bundled with a Steam Controller. Valve said it had anticipated some supply difficulties when the device was announced in November 2025, but not to this extent, and that it has been "limited by memory capacity" despite building as much stock as possible. The warning echoes similar concerns from across the industry: Micron's CEO has predicted the RAM shortage will persist through 2027, and Epic Games' Tim Sweeney has said high-end PC gamers face elevated prices for years, as Sony and Microsoft weigh the timing of their next-generation console launches.