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When I first spoke to Valve engineers about the upcoming Steam Machine in November last year, they told me that they were expecting to ship four separate versions of the device: one option with 512GB of storage, one with a larger 2TB drive, then bundles of each option that included a Steam Controller too. The latest version of Steam seems to suggest that is still very much the plan, with the Steam Tracking GitHub project suggests that a four model lineup is exactly what is being prepared internally.
The Steam update changes were spotted and posted to the /r/SteamMachine subreddit by /u/pepeizq. Here, the IDs 1629460, 1629458, 1629446 and 1629447 refer to the four different Steam Machine SKUs, with the remainder of the IDs listed corresponding to two different Steam Frame options (256GB or 1TB of storage), plus Steam Controller and Steam Deck.
This update added support for the reservation system used by the Steam Controller, so it makes sense to assume that the Steam Machine will use exactly the same system - which limits sales to one per Steam user and requires a Steam account in good standing.
Given the huge increase in SSD and RAM prices over the past six months as components have been bought up by AI firms, it wasn't a forgone conclusion that Valve would launch Steam Machine with a four-model lineup as planned. After, 512GB SSDs in the 2230 form factor used by Valve have gone from $40 to $80 on Amazon US, while 2TB models have gone from $140 to $280 over the same time period. The company could have therefore simplified the lineup over a single (likely smaller) SSD size, though it's still possible that the 512GB and 2TB models are cut back to 256GB and 1TB instead.
Thus far, the Steam Controller is the only item out of the three major Valve hardware announcements to actually be released, but shipping manifests spotted by The Verge suggest that the Steam Machine and Steam Frame shouldn't be too far away, with 50 tons of "game consoles" having recently entered the US. The company also mentioned that it wanted to ship the devices in "the first half of the year", so it has around seven weeks to do just that.
Even if these machines end up costing significantly more than Valve had hoped to due to flash memory price increases, not releasing them at all is hardly a winning play - as surging prices favour cheaper games consoles that can take greater advantage of economies of scale.
How much would you pay for a 512GB Steam Machine? Let us know in the comments below or poll above.