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PayPalThe day has arrived, Valve have announced a major hardware expansion with multiple devices including the new Steam Frame, Steam Controller and Steam Machine. And of course, they're powered by SteamOS (Linux), exactly the sort of thing we cover! Massive news for Linux gaming, and shows how committed Valve are to open source and having an open platform.
"We've been super happy with the success of Steam Deck," said Gabe Newell, President of Valve, "and PC gamers have continued asking for even more ways to play all the great titles in their Steam libraries. Our work over the years on other hardware and even more importantly on SteamOS has enabled Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and Steam Frame to do just that."
Here's what they've announced for 2026:
- Steam Controller:
- Steam Controller shares DNA with Steam Deck, with all the inputs to play all the games on Steam, wherever Steam is.
- High-performance, ergonomic controller with next-generation precision magnetic thumbsticks, full-sized controls, trackpads, gyro, and grip buttons.
- Steam Controller is great wherever Steam is: PC, laptop, Steam Deck, Steam Machine, Steam Frame.
- Steam Machine:
- Made for powerful, versatile PC gaming on a big screen; quiet and small enough to fit under your TV, on your desk, or anywhere else you want to game. (It's a roughly 6-inch (160mm) cube!)
- Runs SteamOS for the same great experience as Steam Deck
- Made to work with Steam Controller, but can pair with your other favorite accessories too.
- Steam Frame:
- Stream ALL of your Steam games, VR and non-VR alike
- Comfortable, wireless, lightweight VR designed to give you a new way to experience your entire Steam library
- Full controller input for PC VR and non-VR games
- It's a PC! Steam Frame is powered by a Snapdragon® processor, and runs SteamOS for the same great experience as Steam Deck
- Supports standalone play for immersive gaming anywhere
All of them will ship to the same regions as the Steam Deck (US, CA, UK, EU, AU) as well as regions covered by KOMODO: Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. No specific launch timings or pricing has been announced yet.
Steam Machine Info:
Models
- 512GB model and 2TB model
- Steam Machine will ship in a bundle with Steam Controller and will also be available standalone
Main Specs
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C / 12T
- up to 4.8 GHz, 30W TDP
- GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs
- 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP
- Supports 4K gaming at 60 FPS with FSR
- Ray tracing supported
- Over 6x more powerful than Steam Deck
- 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- 512 GB & 2 TB SSD models
- micro SD card slot for expanded storage/portable catalog
- Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V
I/O
- DisplayPort 1.4
- Up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K@60Hz
- Supports HDR, FreeSync, and daisy-chaining
- HDMI 2.0
- Up to 4K @ 120Hz
- Supports HDR, FreeSync, and CEC
- Ethernet 1 Gbps
- USB-C 10 Gbps, 3.2 Gen 2
- 4x T ype USB-A ports
- 2x USB 3 in the front
- 2x USB 2 in the rear
- 2x2 Wi-Fi 6E, dedicated BT antenna
- Integrated Steam Controller 2.4GHz radio
Other features
- Works with other controllers, accessories, and PC peripherals
- Wake with Steam Controller
- Runs SteamOS
- Familiar, gaming first user experience
- Fast suspend / resume
- Steam cloud saves, and all the other Steam features you’d expect
- Customizable LED bar
- Personalize with colors and animation
- Reflect system status (e.g. downloads, booting, updating)
Steam Frame Info:
Lightweight, modular architecture
- 185g core
- 440g with included headstrap
- (facial interface, audio, rear battery)
Main Specs
- 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 ARM64 processor
- 16GB Unified LPDDR5X RAM
- Wi-Fi 7, 2x2
- Dual 5Ghz/6Ghz streaming for simultaneous VR and Wi-Fi
- 256GB / 1TB UFS storage options
- microSD card slot for extended storage
Optics
- Pancake optics
- 2160 x 2160 LCD (per eye)
- 72-144Hz refresh rate (144Hz experimental)
- Large FOV (up to 110 degrees)
Tracking
- 4x outward facing monochrome cameras for
- controller & headset tracking
- 2x interior cameras for eye tracking
- Outward IR illuminator (for dark environments)
Other features
- Wireless Adapter included
- Wi-Fi 6E (6Ghz)
- Fast, direct, low-latency link between headset & PC
- Foveated Streaming
- Eye-tracking drives video stream, sending highest resolution to where you’re looking.
- Audio
- Dual speaker drivers (per ear), integrated into headstrap
- Dual microphone array
- Monochrome camera passthrough
- User accessible front expansion port( 2x 2.5Gbps camera interface / Gen 4 PCIe )
- Rechargeable 21.6 Wh Li-On Battery
- SteamOS
- Sleep / wake, cloud saves, Proton
Steam Frame Controllers
- Full 6-DOF tracking and IMU support
- Capacitive finger sensing
- Magnetic thumbsticks (TMR) for improved
- precision, responsiveness and reliability
- Haptic feedback
- Input parity with traditional game pad
- Replaceable AA battery (40hr life)
- Optional straps
Steam Controller Info:
Works with any device that runs Steam
- Windows / Mac / Linux PCs
- PC handhelds
- iOS / Android (with Steam Link)
- Steam Deck
- Steam Machine
- Steam Frame
Three ways to connect
- Steam Controller Puck
- Pre-paired, plug and play
- Proprietary wireless connection
- Low-latency (~8ms full end-to-end)
- 4ms polling rate
- measured at 5m
- More stable than Bluetooth
- Up to 4 Steam Controllers per Puck
- Bluetooth
- USB tethered play
Li-ion rechargeable battery
- 35hr+ play time
- Charge with Steam Controller Puck or USB
Magnetic thumbsticks (TMR)
- Improved responsiveness and reliability
- Capacitive touch
Grip sense
- Quick way to activate/deactivate gyro
- Assignable input
HD haptics
- 4x haptic motors
- 2x LRA haptic motors in trackpads for HD tactile feedback
- 2x High output LRA haptic motors in grips for HD game haptics including rumble
Full input list
- ABXY, D-pad
- L/R triggers, L/R bumpers
- Magnetic thumbsticks (TMR)
- View / Menu / Steam / QAM buttons
- 4x assignable grip buttons
- 2x trackpads with haptic feedback
- Pressure sensitivity for configurable
- click strength
- 6-axis IMU
- Capacitive grip sense
Valve do note in the press details how some of the specs are subject to change, so these may not be exactly final.
As part of this, Valve will be expanding the Steam Deck Verified program. This will include new ratings for the Steam Frame and Steam Machine. They will be known as Steam Machine Verified and Steam Frame Verified.
This is what we have been waiting for and why GamingOnLinux exists. We've been covering Linux gaming for years before Valve even came along, and Valve have practically kept us in business with all their open source work (and especially Proton).
Unlike the original launch of the first attempt at the Steam Machine, Valve has come a seriously long way to make it viable. Proton, the tool to run Windows games on Linux, has made it click and play for tens of thousands of games. So now, it makes a lot more sense.
Direct Link
Absolutely amazing. Much like when Valve originally announced Proton, I feel a bit of the shakes over here from excitement. This is truly some world-changing stuff going on for Linux gaming. It's time for the stranglehold that Microsoft have had with Windows to end.
What this also should hopefully do, is put a bit more pressure on developers to get their anti-cheat enabled for Linux, otherwise that's still going to be quite a number of popular games that won't be playable on any of these devices. As we're tracking on our dedicated anti-cheat page. Especially so if the Steam Machine is priced reasonably, that could be a ridiculous amount of extra players using SteamOS Linux. Developers are going to need to pay a lot more attention to how their games run on Linux.
On top of that, it will be interesting to see if Epic Games will rethink their stance on the Epic Store and Fortnite.
We've opened up some new content tags for you to follow along: Steam Frame | Steam Machine. You can also join us on Discord with dedicated chat channels.
Sadly, Valve did not provide GamingOnLinux with any heads up on it, so we're playing catch-up on all the details. There's also currently no word on review samples like we had for the Steam Deck LCD and Steam Deck OLED, so if you want to ensure we can grab them please do support GamingOnLinux directly.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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ElectricPrism 4 hours ago
TheRiddick 3 hours ago
When Steam Machines flopped back then, it was because Proton wasn't ready.
Actually it was also because the cost kept going up(or varied); if people remember the steam machine was being made by MANY companies and cost a LOT and also didn't even come with SteamOS most the time, as it was Windows.
Basically it just became a prebuilt PC bundle of rando companies ABC. Certainly didn't help that SteamOS was FAR FAR from ready and Windows was just bad for a gaming machine.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 13 Nov 2025 at 5:27 am UTC
What's the resolution on most living room TVs?Probably still 1080p.
My question is are we looking at a barely disguised Dev Kit for a next-generation handheld that is still a few years away.
TheRiddick 2 hours ago
Probably still 1080p.
Going to largely come down to the game. But I assume it at least has PROPER access to FSR4? lets hope so.
Ultimately I think it will come down to price. People will be comparing this to PS5/XBSX prices and if its double or triple those consoles it may not sell well. Same with the VR headset, if its over 1000usd I think it won't sell as well as VR is already NICHE.
Last edited by TheRiddick on 13 Nov 2025 at 5:30 am UTC
Look ->
We have 3 new products...
Announced Wednesday...
3rd day of the week...
3rd week of the month...
From the Devices We have the words --> Machine Control Frame
1. Black Mesa control machinery (Half-Life 1)
2. Combine control interfaces (Half-Life 2)
3.So in Half Life 3 we will have:
Machine Control Frame (MCF) — In automation or industrial networking, an MCF is a data frame or communication packet that coordinates or synchronizes machine actions, such as movement control, safety interlocks, or sensor feedback between controllers (PLCs, robots, etc.).
On current-gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X/S), true native 4K (3840*2160) rendering is not common in most AAA games. It's like 5-10% of AAA titles on Series X, even less on PS5, and non-existent on Series S. Dynamic resolution scaling, upscaling, and reconstruction techniques are the norm. 4K is just marketing and extremely rare. Most players can't tell the difference in blind tests anyway (Digital Foundry has proven this repeatedly).
interesting. Not to get too into the weeds here but the thing im wondering here is how a 'real' console operates vs a PC with SteamOS. On those '4k' console games that use native resolution but checkerboarding, DSR the TV is still taking a native 4k signal so no upscaling internally meaning the video DAC is not adding too much latency. However PC games don't really work like that in that you as a user tend to have to manually switch to 4k and then fiddle around for ages trying to get things to work and a lot of games not designed with a specific hardware target in mind (like a console) won't have upscaling options, or DSR built into the game. The likelyhood imo is that people will either run games at 1080p or maybe 1440p and let the TV scale to native 4k.
also we don't know the memory bandwidth yet, my 12GB 6700XT is a 192bit bandwidth cannot realistically do 4k because of that limitation in most cases, the best it can manage without really chugging, even on older titles is 2880 x 1600 , sure in *some* case you can run those games but mostly your getting dips into the 40fps region.
So i do think there will be some latency for folks running on a 4k TV in general where games are not catering for the user like a 4k optimized console game.
However i don't think it is trying to compete with the PS5 or is it .. im confused now.
Last edited by Lofty on 13 Nov 2025 at 7:48 am UTC
GustyGhost 13 minutes ago
This is our second chance. Or my second chance, anyway. I will certainly be buying one or several Steam Machines.
A key technical question I have is whether SteamOS 3.0 for the new Steam Frame remains based on Arch Linux. If it is, Valve's work on the ARM platform could significantly impact upstream Arch Linux and its derivatives, such as CachyOS. Regardless of the base distribution, I'm curious to know how these performance enhancements will be shared or integrated into other major non-Arch Linux distributions as well.
It's a huge opportunity for cross-distribution collaboration and advancing Linux gaming on ARM (and hopefully RISC-V in the future too)!
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