Valve’s upcoming new hardware releases remain in limbo as it works on securing memory and storage inventory during the current shortage. It’s a water-is-wet moment as Valve updates on its hardware blog that it was caught off guard by the impact the current state of certain component supply would have on the release of its Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Fame wireless VR headset. It’s no secret that if the tech has silicon in it, said product likely has some form of storage, and manufacturers of those components are prioritizing orders to datacenters and Enterprise clients, leaving consumer products in a newfound state of pricing chaos. Valve has largely remained silent on the pricing of its Steam Machine, in particular, causing many to speculate where it will land. The general consensus is that the target would need to be in the $700-$800 range, or less, but that may now be unachievable.
“When we announced these products in November, we planned on being able to share specific pricing and launch dates by now. But the memory and storage shortages you’ve likely heard about across the industry have rapidly increased since then. The limited availability and growing prices of these critical components mean we must revisit our exact shipping schedule and pricing (especially around Steam Machine and Steam Frame).”
– Valve
Current industry rumors suggest that memory and storage shortages could last as far as 2028, although many are hoping they stabilize much sooner. The immediate concern for Valve remains to procure enough supply at manageable costs so it can sell enough units to get its products off the ground and profitable before the inevitable price hikes. The other, of course, is keeping to its planned release schedule.
“Our goal of shipping all three products in the first half of the year has not changed. But we have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change. We will keep you updated as much as we can as we finalize those plans as soon as possible.”
– Valve
Valve is far from the only hardware manufacturer to be stuck in this predicament. As mentioned, virtually any device that relies on a form of silicon to store information is affected, and this includes phones, laptops, tablets, desktops, consoles, televisions, various appliances, smart watches, and much more. The average tech user is likely unaware of the impact the current shortage is already having and will have as the months progress. It’s already been rumored that this crisis is playing a large role in Sony and Microsoft’s release strategy for their next console releases and could also affect upcoming phone launches from Apple and Samsung. Let us not forget that there are a great many rumors circulating on how the shortage is said to affect NVIDIA’s future GPU releases as well, and AMD has already commented on its efforts to keep prices for its GPUs down.