The 2nd-gen Steam Controller was first announced back in November last year, and after months of waiting, Valve has finally confirmed its release. The controller is set to launch on May 4 with a $99 USD price tag. However, there’s still no release date or pricing for the other two devices announced alongside it: the Steam Machine and Steam Frame.

Many fans expected all three products to launch together. After all, they are designed to work closely with each other. But that’s not what’s happening, as the Steam Controller is arriving first – and the other two are being left behind, for now. This is something we had come to expect (and even wished for), given the current market situation.

Why are the Steam Machine and Steam Frame still delayed?

Valve previously explained that the ongoing memory crisis has made things difficult. The shortage and rising cost of components like RAM have forced them to change their production plans. And now, in an interview with Polygon, Valve hardware engineer Steve Cardinali has shared more details on why the controller is launching first.

According to Cardinali, the main reason is simple: it “doesn’t have RAM in it”. That isn’t surprising, but there’s another detail in the interview that caught our eye. Interestingly, Cardinali says this staggered release was not completely unplanned. While the three products are connected, they were never strictly tied to a single release date.

“This doesn’t have RAM in it, and it’s not as complicated to start getting out the door for us. 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.”

Steve Cardinali, hardware engineer at Valve, via Polygon

In terms of release order, Cardinali explained that the only real requirement was to release the controller before the Steam Machine. This makes sense, as the controller is a key part of the overall experience. But beyond that, Valve didn’t see any reason to delay the controller just to wait for the other hardware.

“From the beginning, these were all different products. 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.”

Steve Cardinali, hardware engineer at Valve, via Polygon

For now, the ongoing memory crisis continues to affect the entire tech industry, from GPUs and handhelds to consoles and PCs. At the moment, Valve hasn’t confirmed exactly when they’ll reveal the release date and price for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame, but it likely won’t happen until things become stable.

About the Author

Abdul Haddi

Abdul is a tech writer and Editor for PC Guide, specializing in all things tech, gaming, and hardware.