Steam Machine prices start at £879 / $1049, Valve confirm, as "randomised reservations" open for the SteamOS PC

Oh, and Half-Life 3 isn’t releasing with it either

After months of delaying, price worries, and scarce component-wrangling, the new Steam Machine is ready for launch. Valve have confirmed that the reservation system for orders – an initially randomised variant of how they’re current selling the Steam Controller – is open now for signups, and have lifted the embargo on Steam Machine reviews. That’s ours, right there.

Also, we finally know just how much you’ll be asked to pay for the diminutive SteamOS system. Ready? Here’s those Steam Machine prices...

• 512GB: £879 / $1049 / €1039
• 512GB with Steam Controller bundle: £938 / $1128 / €1108
• 2TB: £1149 / $1349 / €1359
• 2TB with Steam Controller bundle: £1208 / $1428 / €1428

Ooooooh, but also, ehhhhhhh? Personally I don't find these nearly as low as I’d like, even if the 2TB model does come with the red and wooden faceplate options. Simultaneously, they're also not quite as bad as I’d feared, especially after Valve’s previous comments on their lack of immunity to parts shortages. Not that this makes the wider situation any less abominable – the current crisis in memory/component availability is pushing up prices across almost the entirety of PC hardware, not to mention killing off long-serving kit makers, all in service of equipping an AI industry that’s doing its damndest to spoil the art of gamesmaking.

It’s also forcing Valve to launch the Steam Machine with less available stock than they’d supposedly planned, hence the use of a "randomised reservations" system. In short, anyone with about a grand to burn (and a Steam account in good standing) can put their name down for their chosen Machine, any time between now and Thursday June 25th at 6pm BST / 10am PT. At that point, a random draw will determine the order in which signed-up punters get their reservations fulfilled. When someone’s Machine and/or Controller bundle are ready, they’ll receive an email to claim it, similar to the early days of the Steam Deck launch (and how standalone Steam Controller backorders are already being filled).

Valve say the system will limit the pernicious impact of reseller bots, and introduce a degree of fairness that wouldn’t be present if the only ones who could nab a Steam Machine were those whose schedules let them hover around, pummelling their F5 key, at a single determined launch time. It still seems likely, even with those heightened prices, that all of the initial Steam Machine stock will go quickly, and although Valve won’t be taking if off sale after the 25th, anyone who does sign up for a reservation after that 6pm cutoff will be sent to the back of a conventional order queue.

Whether all this represents an imperfect but long-awaited dream come true, or the realisation of all your worst economic nightmares, I’ll leave to your own personal capacity for cultivating dread. I will say that I really like the Steam Machine as a piece of hardware – this and other opinions remain available in the review – though that does make it even more saddening to see its release marred by inflated dollar signs and complicated ordering arithmetic. These conditions are among the topics I discussed with Valve staff in another interview last week, so look out for chunks of that chat appearing on the site across the coming days.