Before its launch, Valve promised “4K gaming at 60 FPS” on its new Steam Machine gaming PCs. This claim has just been removed from the device’s hardware page. The change comes after early reviewers had trouble getting some games to run at higher resolutions on anything other than medium settings.
It was a bold statement that made the Steam engine looks like he was punching way above his weight. An affordable gaming rig that delivers high visual performance and fidelity thanks to AMD FidelityFX Super Resolution? Where do I sign ? “In our testing, the majority of Steam titles run very well at 4K 60FPS with FSR on Steam Machine,” Valve wrote in a blog update earlier this year. “That said, some titles currently require more upscaling than others, and it may be better to play at a lower framerate with VRR to maintain 1080p internal resolution.”
After backlash, Valve changed its statement about 4K games at 60 FPS to 4K games on the Steam Machine page (before and after) 😭 pic.twitter.com/I8yH18f3QS
– Steam Hardware Updates (@HardwareSteam) June 25, 2026
Valve was clear that not every game would live up to this benchmark, but the backlash following the performance experienced by some Steam Machine reviewers actually led the company to remove this language altogether. THE Steam Hardware Updates Account noticed the modification of the equipment list on June 25. And sure enough, an archived version of the page reveals that the “4K gaming at 60 FPS” promise was there as recently as June 24at the time when everyone was still enter the lottery to try to be one of the lucky few to win a pre-order for gaming PCs.
Linus Tech Tips reviewers at Digital Foundry I generally found the Steam Machine’s performance to be close to that of a PS5. Most games on Sony’s console can run at either 60 FPS or near native 4K resolution, but not both. And it turns out that many modern games like Cyberpunk 2077 And Forza Horizon 6 I can’t touch both on Steam Machine either. Even when scaling from lower resolutions, reviewers struggled to achieve a consistent 60FPS on anything other than medium to lower graphics settings.
This doesn’t make the Steam Machine a bad piece of hardware. Clearly, this is a superbly designed and engineered home gaming device. But at $1,050every performance counts, and it’s not clear that the Steam Machine excels in this department as much as some might have hoped, at least for the price. Although console prices are also rising, it might seem more competitive against a $700 PS5 if that’s what Sony’s console ends up costing this holiday season.
