Steam Machine is a discontinued series of small form factor gaming computers by Valve, designed to operate SteamOS to provide a game console-like experience. Several computer vendors were engaged with Valve to develop their own versions of Steam Machines for retail, offering additional options atop Valve's requirements such as dual-booting options with Microsoft Windows and the ability to upgrade the computer. Consumers could digitally purchase video games on their Steam Machine through Valve's namesake Steam storefront.

To support the Steam Machine and SteamOS, Valve released the Steam Controller, a customizable game controller with touchpad-based haptic feedback, and the Steam Link, a device that allows consumers with Steam software to stream content to a monitor. Following a two-year testing period, Steam Machines and its related hardware were released on November 10, 2015. By 2018, many Steam Machines models were no longer offered on the Steam store.

Steam, a digital video games storefront offering many third-party game publishers' titles, was developed by Valve primarily for Microsoft Windows and accounted for an estimated 75% of digitally purchased games on that platform in 2013.^[1] Valve has indicated displeasure with the approaches that both Microsoft and Apple are taking with their respective operating systems, limiting what applications could be run, and upon the release of Windows 8 in 2012, Valve's CEO Gabe Newell called it "a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space", and discussed the possibility of promoting the open-source operating system Linux that would maintain "the openness of the platform".^[2] Newell recognized that games would need to be a significant part of the push for Linux.^[2] An official Linux client for Steam was released in July 2012, along with developer tools to help port games to the platform.^[3][4] Valve worked to assure that users' game libraries would be portable, including offering Steam Play whereby purchase of a title for one platform automatically allows that user to play the title on other supported platforms, and cross-platform multiplayer features.

Prior to Valve's official announcement of Steam Machines, rumors of Valve's plan to get into the hardware market developed in the industry throughout 2012, based on aspects such as the emphasis on the Linux operating system and the introduction of features like the 10-foot user interface "Big Picture Mode" for Steam which would be a necessary feature for a video game console.^[5] Valve formally announced that it was considering developing a video game console near the end of 2012. Industry journalists tentatively called the hardware a "Steam Box". It would function as a dedicated unit running Steam to allow players to launch games, media, and other functions that the client already provides. The unit's hardware was expected to be tightly controlled in a similar manner to other video game consoles.^[6] The software side was expected to remain open; for example, the unit is expected to ship with a Linux operating system, but the user will be able to install Microsoft Windows if they want to.^[7]

Gabe Newell explained that Valve's strategy was to develop a single hardware unit themselves as the default model, internally named "Bigfoot", and work with other computer manufacturers who want to offer the same user experience but with different hardware configurations not offered by Valve's model; for example, Valve did not expect to include an optical drive due to size and cost, but this could have been a feature offered by a manufacturing partner.^[7] He also envisioned the software to enable screencast capabilities, allowing the single box to work with any monitor or television within the home.^[7] Newell stated that they would also likely develop controllers for the unit that integrate biometrics data from the player and options for gaze tracking, citing that the involuntary responses from the player are more useful than other forms of player input such as motion control.^[7] Newell also explained that Valve is also considering the mobile device market in addition to the home console market, specifically considering laptops and tablets with their own hardware nicknamed "Littlefoot".^[7] During the Steam Dev Days in January 2014, Valve further explained that the initial target market for Steam Machines was to be placed in the living room and build a demand for support for Linux versions of games such that they can continue to work away from Windows and OS X operating systems for the future.^[9]

At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, modular computer hardware company Xi3 Corporation introduced a prototype modular PC codenamed "Piston". This unit is one of several possible designs that Valve is looking as the default hardware model for the Steam Box, and is specifically designed to run Steam on Linux and support Big Picture mode.^[10] The unit is based on Xi3's "performance level" X7A model and is slightly larger than a human hand, containing various I/O ports to connect to power, video, and data signals.^[11] Xi3 began taking pre-orders for the Piston Console at the 2013 South by Southwest Festival in March 2013, anticipating high levels of interest in the hardware with plans to release the unit for general purchase by the end of 2013.^[12][13] Valve clarified that although they conducted some initial exploratory work with Xi3, they have had no direct involvement with the Piston's specifications, and it was not necessarily representative of the final design for the Steam Box.^[14][15]

Valve officially revealed Steam Machines including the related SteamOS and Steam Controller during the last week of September 2013, with a tentative release date in mid-2014.^[16] On December 13, 2013, three hundred beta units of the Steam Machine were shipped to selected beta testers for initial testing. An additional 2000 units were provided to developers attending the Steam Dev Days event in January 2014.^[17] Valve also released an early restricted download link for their SteamOS for "Linux hackers" to try out.^[18] Based on feedback from these testers, Valve announced in May 2014 that they have pushed back the anticipated release until November 2015.^[19][20] The first set of Steam Machines, Steam Controllers, and Steam Links were available for consumer purchase and delivery starting on November 10, 2015.^[21][22]

Several gaming websites observed that by April 2018, Valve no longer offered links to the Steam Machine section on the Steam storefront, and while it could be reached directly via a URL, many of the models previously offered were no longer listed.^[23] Valve responded that they recognized that Steam Machines were not selling well and saw little user traffic, prompting them to make the change to the storefront. Valve stated they remained committed to an open gaming platform and will continue to develop the back-end technologies like SteamOS that will help such efforts.^[24]

Valve later revealed the Steam Deck in 2021,^[25] a handheld computer designed to play Steam games running the Arch Linux-based SteamOS. Some design factors of the Steam Deck resulted from the development and failure of the Steam Machines. As it was difficult to get developers to build for Linux systems and reach thresholds for adaption to convince manufacturers to produce Steam Machines, Valve invested into Proton, a compatibility layer for Linux to run Microsoft Windows-based application and games. The hesitation of their manufacturing partners from Steam Machines also led Valve to keep development of the Steam Deck internal as to build a better product.^[26]

By June 2016, seven months after the official release, fewer than half a million units had been sold.^[64][65] In response to the sales figures, Ars Technica described the unit as dead on arrival.^[66] By 2017, some vendors still offered Steam Machine options, or configurations that can be installed with SteamOS, other vendors discontinued their products by the end of 2016.^[67]

In an article published in July 2017, PC Gamer lists several factors why Steam Machines did not take off as Valve had anticipated. SteamOS itself was not seen as ready for everyday use or gameplay in its initial builds, and Valve has been unresponsive at times towards Steam Machine makers to release updates, while concurrently, Microsoft had announced its free rollout of Windows 10, making that an incentive over Valve's software. Valve also had delayed the Steam Controller release to 2015, which also subsequently delayed the Steam Machine release. Further, the Steam Machine makers felt that the Steam Link, produced by Valve, competed with concept of Steam Machines and was a much more cost-attractive product. In most cases the Steam Machine vendors simply found that there was not as great a market for the product, since it was trying to bridge consoles and home computers, while they found most consumers would flock to one extreme or the other.^[67] In March 2020, Newell said "the [Steam Machine] hardware we were pushing for was super-incomplete at the time." Gabe Newell noted that Steam Machines impacted Valve's design for the Valve Index and Half-Life: Alyx, which, like the Steam Machine and SteamOS, were intended to be "hardware and software in concert with each other."^[68]