TECH NEWS – Valve is striving to avoid the situation that occurred when the Steam Controller was first released.
Following its disappointing launch, when the controllers sold out almost immediately and eventually ended up in the hands of scalpers, Valve introduced a pre-order system. As seen in the Steam update introducing the new controller system, a similar safeguard will be in place for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame. Using Steam Tracker, users analyzed the system and discovered the codes for four Steam Machine bundles and two Steam Frame bundles, as well as the entries for the Steam Controller and the Steam Deck. This strongly suggests that Valve will use the pre-order system for its other new hardware releases this year.
The presence of four different Steam Machine bundles suggests that multiple models will be available at launch. We already know about two of the models (the 512 GB and 2 TB storage models), but the nature of the other two has not yet been confirmed. Given the recent launch of the Steam Controller, these additional bundles may include the controller. It’s also possible that there will be a 1 TB configuration, which would offer a more affordable middle ground for those who want more storage than the base 512 GB model. The latter has quickly become insufficient due to the ever-increasing file sizes of current-gen games.
Although the reservation system is supposed to curb scalpers, the biggest mystery remains the price of the Steam Machine. The system was announced just as RAM and SSD prices began to skyrocket, which reportedly affected Valve’s plans. The Steam Machine is considered the only real challenger to PlayStation’s dominance by Mike Ybarra, the former Xbox and Blizzard executive.
However, that challenger status could crumble in an instant if Gabe Newell and his team set the price too high.
