Valve opens lottery sign-ups for Steam Machine reservations
Buyers have until June 25 to join Valve’s Steam Machine reservation lottery, with four configurations starting at $1,049.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
2 min read
Valve has opened sign-ups for Steam Machine reservations, using a lottery-style system instead of a standard first-come preorder queue. The process matters for would-be buyers because anyone who wants an early shot at the hardware must register before the June 25 cutoff.
Valve says the reservation system is meant to make orders fairer and reduce abuse by bots. It differs from the Steam Deck launch process, which used a $5 reservation fee.
Customers can register for any of four Steam Machine options. Valve lists separate sign-up pools for each configuration, and buyers may enter more than one pool before the deadline.
- Steam Machine 512GB: $1,049 / $1,509 CAD / €1,039 / £879 / $1,609 AUD / 4,389 zlotys
- Steam Machine 512GB with Steam Controller: $1,128 / $1,628 CAD / €1,108 / £938 / $1,728 AUD / 4,698 zlotys
- Steam Machine 2TB: $1,349 / $1,919 CAD / €1,359 / £1,149 / $2,109 AUD / 5,739 zlotys
- Steam Machine 2TB with Steam Controller: $1,428 / $2,038 CAD / €1,428 / £1,208 / $2,228 AUD / 6,048 zlotys
Valve is also dividing sign-ups by shipping region. The company says it will place each customer in the proper regional list automatically. The listed regions are North America, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Australia.
The registration window closes June 25 at 10 a.m. Pacific time, or 1 p.m. Eastern time. After that, Valve says it will run a one-time random ordering process to decide where registered customers land in the reservation line.
Signing up for several configurations does not mean a customer can reserve several machines. Valve says each person can receive only one reservation slot. If a customer is selected for more than one model, Valve will assign the highest-end configuration among the models that person chose and remove the customer from the other lists.
People who do not receive a reservation will be placed on a waitlist, according to Valve. The company says those customers will be added to the waitlist for the model where they were nearest the front of the line.
Valve says it will email registrants on June 25 to tell them whether they have entered a reservation queue or a waitlist. After those emails are sent, customers will no longer be able to change the Steam Machine configuration they selected. Anyone who signs up after the June 25 deadline will go to the back of the waitlist.
The company has also set eligibility rules. Customers must have a Steam account in good standing and must have made a Steam purchase before April 27, 2026. Valve says sign-ups are limited to one per household and that it will use payment details, shipping addresses and other information to screen out duplicate entries.
Customers who secure a reservation will have 72 hours to finish buying the Steam Machine, according to Valve. The first reservation emails are scheduled to go out June 29.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.