Valve has announced three new products: the next-gen Steam Machine, the next-gen Steam Controller, and Steam Frame, its next-gen virtual reality headset. It’s a huge day for the company behind Half-Life and its fans, with lots to digest. So, we’ve rounded up everything Valve announced today and all our exclusive coverage so you can sink your teeth into Valve’s hardware plans.
Steam Machine
Let’s start with the next-gen Steam Machine, Valve’s surprise follow-up to its small gaming computer released 10 years ago. The original Steam Machine was seen as something of a failure, so why was now the right time to make a new one? That’s just one of the questions we put to Valve itself during our interview ahead of today’s announcement.
We’ve got plenty more on Steam Machine, including our hands-on Steam Machine preview, and our thoughts on what it means for the next-gen.
Steam Controller
With a new Steam Machine comes a new Steam Controller. This new peripheral was also a topic of our discussion with Valve, which made the case for why gamers should be interested in buying it even if they already have a traditional gamepad.
We’ve got a Steam Controller preview where we dig into the details, and it’s worth checking out our conversation after our hands-on with all Valve’s new hardware, in the video below.
Steam Frame
And finally, Valve has a next-gen virtual reality headset in the works. Steam Frame follows on from Valve Index with a crucial new feature: you don’t need to hook it up to a PC for it to work. Check out IGN’s Steam Frame preview to find out what we think of it, and our exclusive Steam Frame interview with Valve.
Now, you might be wondering where Steam Deck 2 is in all this. Of course we asked Valve, which had an explanation for why now isn’t the right time for a next-gen version of its handheld. And there’s no new video games to go along with all this either, which is something of a surprise given Valve released Half-Life: Alyx as a VR showcase for Valve Index back in 2020.
Still, Valve has a lot going on, including with the new Steam Machine, an interesting addition to the growing PC / console hybrid space which Microsoft has its eyes on with its upcoming next-gen Xbox.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
