Both Xbox and Valve are fessing up that their respective upcoming hardware releases have been somewhat derailed due to the current DRAM/NAND crisis. While this may come across as a water-is-wet statement, PC component and console manufacturers have been largely silent in addressing the current state of the home electronics industry. Whether it be AMD, Intel, or NVIDIA, there’s been next to no official word regarding future consumer GPUs, leaving rumors for each to run rampant. Meanwhile, similarly, rumors continue to spread regarding when gamers will see new consoles from Sony or Microsoft, but then Valve is now thrown into the mix with its Steam Machine and Steam Frame VR headset.
Valve announced its new lineup of hardware last fall, when prices for memory and storage components had begun their meteoric price hikes as focus on AI consumed said parts globally. While many were excited at these announcements, speculation regarding Steam’s console/PC hybrid price became a hot topic across the internet. Some optimistically, and perhaps in a state of denial of the effects of the ongoing component crisis, hoped for something in the $500-$600 range, while others theorized it would likely be closer to the $800-$1000 mark. Valve did update via its blog in February regarding how the current shortages had affected its plans and pricing strategy.
“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
The Steam Controller is officially on its way, but Valve’s other two pieces of hardware for which it has been purposely designed to seamlessly integrate with, and their prices, remain behind the curtain. Valve hardware engineer Steve Cardinali (per Polygon) has been very straightforward in explaining why the controller is being released ahead of the Steam Machine and Steam Frame.
“This doesn’t have RAM in it, and it’s not as complicated to start getting out the door for us, We’re ready for it. We wanted to build up quantity so that we could try to address everybody who wants one at launch, but it’s possible that the demand for it far exceeds our expectations.”
-Steve Cardinali, Valve hardware engineer
Next up, we have Xbox’s new CEO, Asha Sharma, who has been extremely busy revamping Microsoft’s gaming division. We won’t go into the plethora of seemingly neverending story’s regarding possible changes to Game Pass here, but instead Microsoft’s upcoming PC-console hybrid, Project Helix. The next Xbox is also facing the same development challenges as its competitors when it comes to the current component supply. Sharma shared the following with Gamefile (via VideoCardz).
“All of these things are an equation. Memory costs will impact pricing, will impact availability. As we think about being where the world plays, we will take that into consideration. So we’re not ready to share a launch timeline right now. The world’s pretty dynamic. My number one focus, though, is to focus on what’s in our control, build a great console to play games, including your pc games”
– Asha Sharma, XBOX CEO
So there you have it. Two out of the three have now spoken about what’s happening with their respective upcoming products, but we are still waiting on Sony to address this elephant in the room. Meanwhile, it looks like Nintendo picked the perfect time to launch the Switch 2, although it remains to be seen what price hikes it will get in the coming months.