We nonetheless don’t know when Valve will launch the Steam Machine, however we might not have to attend too lengthy. Valve just imported roughly 50 tons of “Game Consoles” into the United States in the two-day interval between May 1st and April thirtieth, in line with import data seen by The Verge.
That’s on high of the “ton” of shipments that Valve watcher Brad Lynch talked about late final week — and there’s motive to consider these containers have the brand new Steam Machine or Steam Frame inside, not just an additional batch of the Steam Deck handheld. (The Steam Deck was additionally designated a “Game Console” for import functions.)
While Valve’s logistics companions had a dearth of shipments after Christmas 2025, they seem like ramping again up, with almost 100 tons of product transferring into the US over the previous two months. During that point, cargo ships with names like Ever Logic and Ever Shine have introduced ten 40-foot containers from China to Los Angeles, CA and Tacoma, WA, weighing 127,228 kilograms (140 US tons) in complete.
Each of these 40-foot containers can weigh over 3,700kg when empty, so there’s considerably lower than 140 tons of precise product making it into the US. But even accounting for the containers, Valve’s new shipments weigh a superb bit totally different than the earlier ones — suggesting they might have a brand new product inside.
For just a few years now, every of Valve’s 40-foot containers to cross the ocean have held as much as 42 packages for a complete gross weight of round 14,500kg (32,000lbs), import data present. That was true as lately as April 18th, round which era the Ever Sigma deposited a 14,322kg, 42-package cargo in Tacoma, Washington with Valve’s associate Ingram Micro. Perhaps it nonetheless had Steam Decks inside quite than Steam Machines?
But just a few days later, the Ever Shine introduced a notably lighter 12,608kg (27,800lbs) container to Tacoma, once more with 42 packages. Import data present Valve’s companions didn’t change to a lighter kind of container; it’s nonetheless the usual 40-foot mannequin that weighs roughly 3,700kg when empty.
Valve has had at the least seven shipments like that since April twenty third, with a median weight of 12,600kg. Subtract the burden of the containers, and also you wind up with round 53,124kg of product, packaging, pallets, and padding for the journey, or roughly 50 tons of “Game Consoles.”
Just keep in mind that 50 tons isn’t really loads! Valve says the Steam Machine weighs 2.6kg (roughly 5.73lbs) per console, so the latest surge in shipments may add as much as fewer than 20,000 Steam Machines, notably if any of them are pre-bundled with a controller or different objects which improve every package deal’s weight. (Valve instructed us bundles can be out there.)
The Steam Controller seems to have already offered out on launch day. Unless Valve plans to create an enormous stockpile, the Steam Machine may go even quicker. I’m much less certain in regards to the Steam Frame, though I’m personally excited for competitors in the gaming headset market.
It’s nonetheless doable all of these containers have Steam Deck handhelds inside, and one thing else accounts for the change in weight. Either means, Valve’s lastly getting {hardware} transferring once more. Valve designer Pierre-Loup Griffais lately instructed us the corporate was “working hard on trying to address” provides of its handheld so you should purchase that one once more, too.