Why is the Steam Controller coming out before the Steam Machine? Valve explains
Overview & Key Takeaways
Valve explains how the RAM crisis guided its decision to release the Steam Controller now rather than wait for the Steam Machine.
Following a delay earlier this year, players will be able to order a Steam Controller starting on May 4. That means that it will get into players hands before the Steam Machine or the Steam Frame, two devices that were announced alongside that. In an interview with Polygon, Valve hardware engineer Steve Cardinali explained why the team decided to pull the trigger on the Steam Controller apart from the other hardware. It all comes down to RAM.
Back in February, Valve confirmed that it had delayed its plans to release the Steam Machine, Frame, and Controller in early 2026. A blog post at the time confirmed that the “growing prices” of critical components had Valve reevaluating their release date and pricing plans. Cardinali confirmed that RAM is part of the problem, and there was no sense in holding back the Steam Controller any longer while the memory shortage developed.
“This doesn't have RAM in it, and it's not as complicated to start getting out the door for us,” Cardinali told Polygon. “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.”
The current RAM crisis is a side effect of the tech industry’s AI push. Data centers require lots of memory, so the companies behind them are striking lucrative deals with chip manufacturers to lock down specialized components. That’s driving up the price of RAM for companies like Valve since supply is low, putting a wrench in its plans to ship both the Steam Machine and Steam Frame at a reasonable price point for consumers.
Image: Valve
Though that has torpedoed part of Valve’s hardware plan, Cardinali said that the staggered Steam Controller release isn’t entirely out of step with how it planned to release its three new products. They were never tied to a shared release date.
"From the beginning, these were all different products," Cardinali said. "We had always thought, obviously we want them to work together well — especially the Steam Machine and the Steam Controller, they're in a lot of ways a pair made in heaven — but we saw no need to ship the Controller at the same time as the Machine. The really only hard deadline is we didn't want to ship the Steam Machine before the Steam Controller. We want to have that out for the Steam Machine… It wasn't really ever the plan to ship them together unless it landed nicely that way. So there's no point in holding it back while we work through the other stuff."
If your plan is to buy a Steam Controller to use with one of Valve’s upcoming products, you’ll be able to add the former to your Steam cart starting on May 4. You’ll have to wait a little longer to actually get a Steam Machine or Steam Frame to pair with it, though, as both are still tentatively scheduled to release in the first half of 2026. You’ll still be able to use your Steam Controller on PC through the Steam client, mobile via Steam Link, or on Steam Deck in the meantime.
