Last week, Valve finally made it possible to order the all-new Steam Controller, while giving everyone a heads-up that the day was coming. Well, the day came and went, and it became immediately apparent that Valve’s servers couldn’t handle the excitement. Before opening the next wave of orders, a reservation system was implemented, and it would appear that we can expect the same with the Steam Machine.
Hidden in the commits for one of the latest Steam updates were references to the Steam Machine and the Steam Frame. These were spotted by u/Pepeizq, with Valve’s next upcoming devices joining the Steam Deck and Steam Controllers within the same reservation system.
We suspect that once the Steam Machine and Steam Frame are made available, some additional limitations will be imposed. With the Steam Controller, in addition to joining the reservation system, you’ll need to adhere to the following rules:
- Only one controller per account
- The Steam account must be in “good standing” with a purchase being made before April 27 to be eligible
- Those who managed to purchase a controller on May 4 are not eligible to buy one during this latest restock
- Once you’ve received the order reservation email, you’ll have just 72 hours to complete the purchase
It’s not all that dissimilar to what we saw when the Steam Deck originally launched, accompanied by a reservation system of its own. However, Valve seemingly won’t be taking a chance moving forward with either the Steam Machine or the Frame.
On top of these upcoming devices appearing within the reservation system, the code also revealed a total of four different configurations for the Steam Machine. Presumably, Valve will offer at least two different storage sizes, with the other two configuration options to be bundled with a Steam Controller. It’s unlikely that we would see Valve offer the Steam Machine with four different storage sizes, given the ongoing memory and storage price issues that just won’t let up.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t do much in the way of providing any indication as to when the Steam Machine or Frame will actually be launching. Instead, it just seems like Valve is getting its ducks in a row for when the time has finally come.
