Game developer Valve has just announced 3 new gaming related products. Valve is mainly known for their digital marketplace called steam, and the popular games they have developed such as Portal and Counter Strike making a hardware announcement like this a surprise to many. The 3 products are set to release in 2026.
The 1st new product was the new steam controller. This was the least exciting announcement but was still interesting to see. Valve did release a Steam Controller for use with PC games in 2015 but due to a lack of popularity it was discontinued in 2019. The new design is completely different from the original and introduces new features such as magnetic charging. Controller support has greatly improved for PC games since the release of the original Steam controller meaning this new version will probably sell much better.
The 2nd announcement was the brand new Steam Machine. The Steam Machine was a miniaturised desktop PC designed to make it easier to play PC games in a typical living room setting like a traditional console. It ran a version of Linux designed for playing Steam Games but struggled to compete with standard home consoles due to the lack of support for games on Linux. Since then Valve has released the Steam Deck which also runs a version of Linux and Linux gaming has grown tremendously. With the new hardware and a completely different market, the Steam Machine could see real success this time.
The 3rd and final announcement was the Steam Frame. The Steam Frame is a VR headset similar to offerings from companies like Meta. It will integrate with the existing Steam VR infrastructure and will also be able to have games directly downloaded onto it without the need for a PC.
