Valve Preemptively Protects Against Speculators Before Steam Machine Launch

Valve is preparing for the launch of Steam Machine with enhanced protection against resellers. After the problematic start of the Steam Controller, when the first batch practically disappeared from sale instantly and ended up with speculators, the company decided to implement a reservation queue system for future hardware novelties.

As Steam Tracker users noticed, mentions of four versions of Steam Machine and two variants of Steam Frame were found in one of the latest Steam updates. A similar reservation system is already used for Steam Deck and the new Steam Controller.

Judging by the found code, Valve intends to apply a pre-order queue to the entire new line of devices, which are expected to be released this year. This should help avoid a repeat of the situation with shortages and mass buyouts of devices by resellers in the first hours of sales.

The presence of four Steam Machine options also indicates the launch of several device configurations at once. Currently, versions with 512 GB and 2 TB drives have been officially confirmed, but the purpose of the other two models remains unknown. It is assumed that these could be bundles with the new Steam Controller.