The Steam Machine is finally here after months of rumors and speculation about its launch date, but its very high cost for what it offers is only one of the challenges the Valve gaming system is set to face. Although all systems powered by the SteamOS will come with the exact same core specifications, with the exception of storage capacity, not all of them will perform the same, as some units past the launch window ones will ship with a single 16GB RAM module, with no way for customers to control which RAM configurations they will get, renewing a hardware lottery trend we have seen way too often for gaming hardware that only damages consumers.
Following yesterday's announcement, Digital Foundry confirmed that at launch the Steam Machine has only one stick of DDR5 RAM. "It was quite literally impossible to buy 8GB [sticks], at least at the quantities we're looking to buy mostly because everybody wants higher storage, and that's more profitable, so all the capacity shifted to that," said Steam Machine engineer Yazan Aldehayyat to the publication.
Although Valve had little control over this and the performance impact on GPU-limited titles is minimal, this forced decision will result in lower performance for CPU-limited games with many simulation elements, such as open-world games like Crimson Desert, Dragon's Dogma 2, and Baldur's Gate 3.
However, not every Steam Machine will ship with a single 16GB of RAM in the future. Speaking with Gamers Nexus, engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais confirmed that, at some point, some customers will receive two 8GB RAM sticks in their systems, depending on supply. In addition, every Steam Machine comes with two slots, so, once more information on precisely what RAM the system uses becomes available, it will be possible to upgrade, although that will likely void the system's warranty, and it won't be cheap at all, considering the current market prices driven by global supply shortages.
As there won't be any way to know the memory configuration of any Steam Machine out of the box, this immediately brought to mind the hardware lottery Nintendo 3DS and PS Vita users had to contend with back in the day. Although for the latter it was a matter of choice between the superior panel of launch units subject to degradation and the inferior display of the Slim revision, things were significantly more chaotic for the Nintendo 3DS, as each of the two displays installed on any system were sourced independently, and some users ended up with any combination of IPS and TN displays, with only a few literally winning the lottery with double IPS displays.
However, with the Steam Machine, the hardware lottery is expected to have a significantly greater impact. While the list of games potentially impacted by the single stick RAM configuration isn't huge right now, future games, especially open-world RPGs and simulation titles, will become more complex, and with the next-generation of systems like the PlayStation 6 set to establish a new baseline in terms of system specifications as early as next year, the Steam Machine runs a huge risk of becoming outdated extremely quickly, even without considering its system specifications. Hopefully, Valve will find a way to mitigate the issue, but given the current situation, the chances are very slim.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
