Trending
Valve does not publish hardware sales figures, but analysts at Boiling Steam have produced a detailed estimate of how the Steam Machine is performing based on its position in Steam's Global Top Sellers chart. The device is currently sitting in second place globally, behind only Counter-Strike 2 and ahead of Palworld, and using revenue modelling derived from those surrounding titles, Boiling Steam estimates that Valve is moving between 12,000 and 15,000 units per week during this launch window.
The methodology works backwards from Steam's The top per cent best sellers on Steam earned half the Steam's revenue in 2017. Counter-Strike 2 has historically generated between $19 million and $20 million in weekly revenue, which functions as a ceiling. Palworld in third place typically sits at $7 million to $9 million weekly, functioning as a floor. That places the Steam Machine's weekly revenue somewhere between $10 million and $18 million. Factoring in a weighted price average of around $1,154, based on an assumed 65/35 split between the $1,049 base model and the $1,349 2TB version, gives a unit range of between 8,700 and 15,600 weekly sales, with 12,000 to 15,000 units as the midpoint estimate. Extrapolated over a year at that pace, the Steam Machine would move somewhere between 600,000 and 750,000 units annually, which would be a commercially healthy result for a Steam Machine was originally meant to cost around $750 before rising RAM prices, Valve reveals.
There are several caveats worth keeping in mind. Launch windows typically include pre-order backfill and early adopter demand that does not persist, and Boiling Steam flags that a 20 to 30 per cent sales decline once that initial wave clears is a common pattern for hyped hardware launches. Valve itself has also pushed back against the idea that unit sales are its primary measure of success. In a recent interview, a Valve representative said the company will evaluate the Steam Machine by different metrics, without specifying what those are.
What those metrics might be is anyone's guess, but for now the numbers suggest Valve's return to living room hardware is, at minimum, off to a commercially meaningful start.
DON'T MISS!
- A Call of Duty film is in the works, and it will be set in the Modern Warfare universe
- The Blood of Dawnwalker confirms no mini-games or Denuvo ahead of launch
- Marathon Vault Breaker Mode adds PvE Vault Raids and new Upgrade System
- Final Fantasy 14 Mobile is shutting down in September, and it never even launched globally
- Modern Warfare 4 Beta dates revealed with Early Access starting August 21
