I swear, Valve just dropped the biggest news bomb in quite some time.
If you haven’t noticed – hardware news has been slow lately. Like, painfully slow.
But Valve being Valve – a private company sitting on a mountain of Steam cash – they have the freedom to experiment with wild ideas.
And today they dropped a whole collection of them.
On a random Wednesday. Go figure.

You can watch the full announcement here:
Valve Hardware Announcement

Small warning before we start: this one won’t be in my usual slow, reflective style. The news just dropped and I’m too excited not to write about it immediately.

So what did they announce?

Three new pieces of hardware:

• Steam Machine – a compact, living-room-ready gaming PC
• Steam Frame – a wireless standalone VR headset
• Steam Controller – a redesigned controller with trackpads and magnetic thumbsticks

Steam Machine and Steam Frame both run SteamOS, Valve’s Linux-based operating system.
And for the first time, we’re seeing SteamOS used on actual desktop-style hardware – which is already exciting on its own, even if Valve hasn’t said anything about a public “desktop release.”

Steam Controller

Let’s start with the smallest piece of the puzzle – even though it’s not small at all.
Valve’s new Steam Controller feels like their second attempt at an idea they never fully gave up on – this time with way better tech behind it.

Key features:

• Dual trackpads with HD haptics
• Gyro aiming
• Grip buttons
• Full-size controls
• Cap-sense thumbsticks (they know when you’re touching them)
• Magnetic thumbsticks – goodbye, drift
• 35 hours of playtime
• Charging dock included (magnetic snap-on, naturally)
• Works with anything that runs Steam: PC, Mac, Steam Deck, phones, and their new hardware

Steam Machine

Now the big one.

The new Steam Machine is essentially a high-performance SteamOS PC designed for your living room – or honestly, anywhere you want a tiny box that punches way above its size.

Specs:

• CPU: Semi-Custom AMD Zen 4 (6C / 12T), up to 4.8GHz
• GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 (28 CUs), 2.45GHz
• RAM: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
• Storage: 512GB or 2TB, expandable with NVMe and microSD
• TDP: 30W CPU + 110W GPU

And because it runs SteamOS, it comes with:

• Fast suspend/resume
• Desktop mode
• Steam Input
• Cloud saves
• Updates handled automatically
• Friends list, chat, remote play, and everything else from the Steam ecosystem

Valve was very explicit:
Steam Machine is a PC.
Install whatever you want. Use a mouse, keyboard, headphones, the whole deal.

They even showed someone coding a video game on it – and another person streaming live straight from the machine.
Which pretty much tells me Valve knows exactly which crowd they’re talking to here.

Steam Frame

Here’s the wild one.

Steam Frame is Valve’s new WIRELESS VR headset, and yes – it also runs SteamOS.
Meaning:

• You can install games directly on the headset
• You can stream PC games to it
• It can run non-VR games on a giant virtual screen
• Its’ controllers uses the same magnetic thumbstick controllers as the new Steam Controller

And just like the Steam Machine, (running SteamOS) it comes with all bells and whistles.

Basically:
Steam Frame isn’t just a VR headset. It’s a tiny wireless PC strapped to your face.
In the best possible way.
Probably even cheaper than Apple Vision Pro.

The Bigger Picture

This feels less like three separate devices and more like Valve quietly building an open hardware ecosystem – handhelds, living room PCs, VR, controllers – all tied together by SteamOS, but still open enough to use however you want.

And look – as if the announcements weren’t wild enough, Valve even said the number three out loud.
So, you know… Half-Life 3 confirmed?
(Probably not. But still. Let a man dream.)

Also – this might be the first big tech showcase in years where nobody mentioned AI even once.
Honestly?
Refreshing as hell.

And with SteamOS running on a handheld, a living-room PC, and a wireless VR headset…
I’m starting to think we might actually be heading toward something I never thought I’d say with a straight face:

2026 – the year of the Linux desktop?

Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

Stay safe out there.
Commodore Bo, out.