Steam Machine preorder emails are in the wild, and it finally feels real: Valve is actually gonna release this thing in 2026

If you signed up for a spot in the Steam Machine reservation queue, you might want to take a quick look at your email, because the notices for those who made it into the first wave—and those who did not—have been sent.

I did not personally order a Steam Machine for several reasons, which in truth can be boiled down to one reason:

Yowzah! (Image credit: Valve)

Instead, I heard about the email sendout from Game Awards host Geoff Keighley, who apparently took the shotgun approach to the lottery and came out of it with a reservation for a 512GB model.

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Steam is starting to inform customers who were randomly selected to purchase Steam Machines. I went in for all 4 models, and was selected for the 512GB with Controller. — (Image credit: Geoff Keighley (Twitter))

Videogame deals poster Wario64, who also claimed a golden ticket, took note of an added bonus: Buying one will net you a veritable butt-ton of Steam Summer Sale trading cards.

Buying a Steam Machine can earn you at least 105 Summer Sale 2026 Trading Cards during the Summer Sale.

— @wario64.bsky.social (@wario64.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-06-26T20:56:05.574Z

randomized lotteryAs explained by PC Gamer hardware hero Jacob Ridley, Valve opted against a first-come, first-served approach to selling the Steam Machine, and instead went with a randomized lottery: Everybody who wants one puts their name in the metaphorical hat, and from there a random selection of potential buyers are selected and notified.

I say “potential” because those whose names are drawn have three days to complete the purchase after the unit they were selected for is available—if they don’t, their reservation will be cancelled and the next person in the queue will get the shot instead.

That provides a very small sliver of hope for those who missed the bus: As others on social media have shared, those folks received an email saying, “As we work our way through the reservation queue, some customers may cancel their reservations. If that happens, you may be moved into the reservation queue, and you’ll be notified by email that you have a reservation after all.”

Valve said when it announced the randomized reservations to “limit resellers,” because as we’ve seen in the past, when high-demand hardware shows up, scalpers are never far behind. And yes, it’s happening here too: Valve may have limited resellers but it hasn’t eliminated them completely, and listings for preorder access are already appearing on sites like eBay, with obscenely inflated prices attached.