Valve Expands the Steam Ecosystem with New Console, Gamepad, and Standalone VR
Valve is turning Steam into a full hardware ecosystem. The company just announced three new devices arriving in early 2026: the Steam Machine living-room console, a revamped Steam Controller, and the Steam Frame VR headset, all built around SteamOS and designed to play nicely with the existing Steam Deck. And yes, we’re fully invested in the upcoming drop.
Steam Hardware Photo Credit: © 2025 Valve Corporation.
Steam Machine: Steam's console-class box
Steam Machine is Valve’s return to the TV console idea, framed this time as a compact cube with over six times the horsepower of a Steam Deck and a focus on 4K gaming at 60 fps with FSR. It runs SteamOS, supports the new “Steam Machine Verified” badges for performance, and doubles as a small-form-factor PC where you can install other apps or even another OS.
Under the hood, it uses a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU paired with an RDNA 3 GPU, 16 GB DDR5 plus 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM, and 512 GB or 2 TB SSD options, with microSD expansion on top. Connectivity includes HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a generous spread of USB ports, plus a built-in radio tuned for the new Steam Controller. What more could you need? Also—if you’re used to hooking up your Steam Deck to a dock as a console alternative, this one’s really exciting.
Steam Controller: Deck-style brains in a gamepad
The new Steam Controller takes the flexible input philosophy of Steam Deck and folds it into a more traditional pad. You get ABXY, D-pad, triggers, bumpers, four rear grip buttons, dual trackpads with haptics, gyro, and next-gen magnetic thumbsticks designed to resist drift. Valve claims 35+ hours of battery life on a single charge.
It connects over a proprietary low-latency “Steam Controller Puck,” Bluetooth, or USB-C, and works across Windows, macOS, Linux, Steam Deck, Steam Machine, and the Steam Frame headset. The idea is that you keep all the advanced Deck-style inputs even when you’re playing docked on a couch.
Steam Frame: Wireless VR as a standalone PC
Steam Frame is the successor to Valve Index, but this time it’s fully standalone. The headset runs SteamOS on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with 16 GB LPDDR5X, supports native non-VR titles, and can also stream PCVR over Wi-Fi 7 or an included 6 GHz dongle.
The visor packs dual 2160×2160 LCDs (per eye) at 72–144 Hz, custom pancake lenses, inside-out tracking with four external cameras, and eye tracking for foveated rendering and “foveated streaming.” A modular strap houses the battery and a clever dual-speaker setup that cancels vibrations to help tracking accuracy.
Taken together, the trio looks like Valve’s clearest statement yet that Steam is no longer just a storefront but a whole hardware platform, even as the company keeps quiet on a true Steam Deck 2 for now.
