Valve Sells Up To 15K Steam Machines Weekly Despite Dire Memory Crunch Warning

Valve is selling roughly 15 thousand Steam Machines every week, despite being constrained by limited supply and high pricing during the ongoing RAM crisis. While this number isn't official, BoilingSteam derived it from Steam's Top Sellers window, estimating that anywhere from 8700 to 15600 units starting at $1049 USD have been sold based on its position between Counter-Strike 2 and Palworld.

In Valve's own words to Bloomberg, "We're building basically everything we can get our hands on. We're limited by memory capacity, for sure. We suspect that the Steam Machine is a really good way to solve a very real problem that people have [couch PC gaming.] If that's [...] true, [...] it's a success." So, even if sales are limited, Valve just wants to have addressed that niche. After all, it's not likely the Steam Machine's total profits will reach the levels of major live service games like Counter-Strike 2 and Palworld. Spending weeks in Steam's Top Sellers list can't hurt, though.


Even though Valve emphasizes that the Steam Machine doesn't need to sell massively to be considered a success, it's hard to argue that 15K Steam Machines a week is a bad figure. While it's true that the Nintendo Switch 2 sold somewhere in the range of 647.5K systems a week in its first four months, that's also the biggest console launch in history and from a far more entrenched player in the console space.

No realistic estimate of the Steam Machine or the Steam Deck's sales numbers would be anywhere near the Switch 2, but Valve's shipping capacity is also tapped out. That's an impressive achievement considering the status of the PC market, which includes DIYers desperate for component prices to fall.

Even if the Steam Machine didn't sell as well as it apparently has, Valve can also count on its strong Steam revenue stream, which ensures the company's success as long as PC gaming continues to thrive. With historically console-focused publishers like Capcom touting sales on PC outstripping those of consoles for its games, Steam is undoubtedly in a good position for the foreseeable future.

But with the Bloomberg interview and BoilingSteam sales estimate in mind, what should we expect from the Steam Machine moving forward? Don't expect a price change in the near future. According to Valve, that's a problem that won't be fixed until the current memory shortage is alleviated.