Steam parent company Valve says game developers will face “fewer constraints” with Steam Machine platform verification than with the brand’s Steam Deck handheld. The company is currently developing its upcoming home console, which it announced last November. While public price speculation continues, one Valve employee says the Steam Machine will feature a larger launch-day library than its more compact handheld counterpart, the Steam Deck.
In an interview with Game Developer, brand designer Lawrence Yang promised players would notice greater player freedom on the console than on the handheld. “One easy rule of thumb is that if your title is Verified on Steam Deck, it will be Verified on Steam Machine.” Yang continued, adding that VR games will undergo similar testing before their release on the Steam Frame. Game developers will also receive feedback, as is commonplace in the brand’s other verification programs.
Steam Machine verification
Users familiar with Steam and its popular Steam Deck (as well as other PC handhelds) know the platform’s “Deck Verified” designation indicates a download will run properly on a given device. “Verified” downloads bear a green-and-white checkmark icon, while unplayable titles show a gray slash/no symbol. Some games may show a yellow exclamation mark, indicating they’re mostly playable (barring a few issues).
But as Game Developer senior editor Bryant Francis writes, Steam’s verification processes and recognizable ideograms now carry more weight. The vivid green check can earn titles a spot on Steam’s coveted “Great on Deck” hub, boosting clicks, impressions, and overall visibility. When you find out more than 100 games have been released since this morning, that opportunity looks a lot more appealing.
Valve announces Steam Machine, two additional devices
In its November 2025 reveal, Valve announced three new devices: the Steam Machine, the Steam Frame, and the Steam Controller.
The Steam Machine is a box-like game system that Valve promises is more like a miniature computer than a standard video game console. Just like the Steam Deck, Valve’s Steam Machine will run SteamOS. But the surprisingly petite hardware purportedly packs a punch. According to Valve, the Steam Machine boasts six times the horsepower of its predecessor. The brand has disclosed the system’s specs:
- CPU: Semi-custom AMD Zen 4 6C/12T
- GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs; 2.45GHz max sustained clock; 110W TDP
- STORAGE: 512GB SSD and 2TB SSD
- 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM
- 2x USB-A ports (front)
- 2x USB-A ports (rear)
- 1x USB-C port (rear)
The Steam Machine mini-PC will pair perfectly with the brand’s Steam Controller. The “Puck” peripheral allows players to customize input and seamlessly connect to Steam-linked devices. Valve also announced the Steam Frame, a new virtual reality (VR) headset, during the same presentation.
Hype aside, device prices remain a point of contention for hardware hopefuls. In an appearance on the Friends Per Second pod (via GI.biz), Valve software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais said the company hopes players find the price fair. “I think that if you build a PC from parts and get to basically the same level of performance, that’s the general price window that we aim to be at,” Griffais explained. “Ideally, we’d be pretty competitive with that and have a pretty good deal, but we’re working on refining that as we speak, and right now is just a hard time to have a really good idea of what the price is going to be because there’s a lot of different things that are fluctuating.”
