By 
Over a decade ago, in late 2015, gaming storefront operator Valve released a line of small form factor gaming PCs referred to as Steam Machines, designed for living room gaming. The idea was that these machines would make it easier to play PC games in the living room due to their smaller size, and focus on gaming performance aimed more toward a TV viewer at a distance, rather than a core PC gamer sat mere inches away from a high end monitor.
The original Steam Machines failed to take off for a lot of reasons: They ran on Linux (which at the time highly limited game compatibility), they were confusingly marketed with variable hardware, and didn’t really capture the “plug and play” console experience.
Jump forward to 2026 and Valve has managed to iron out most of these issues for their second attempt at launching the Steam Machine. This time a single Valve produced box with standardised hardware and predictable game performance, the Steam Machine features pretty robust game compatibility thanks to Proton (the Linux compatibility layer designed for their Steam Deck handheld), as well as featuring much clearer marketing.
The Steam Machine is a small dense cube (imagine a Gamecube but heavier), and handles 1440p gaming at 60FPS across a decent percentage of modern AAA gaming titles. It’s undeniably a little overpriced for the performance you’re getting, but it’s also the closest we’ve come to being able to have a console style experience while playing PC games.
I’ve spent the past few weeks getting used to the Steam Machine, and using it as my primary gaming machine for work related gaming tasks. While I will share my overall broad thoughts on the device later in this video, I want to start by talking in depth about the accessibility experience I’ve had unboxing, setting up, and using Valve’s console style gaming PC.
Packaging
The initial cardboard box that the Steam Machine is shipped is will be sealed with tape, which some disabled users may need some help getting past.
Inside that initial shipping box you’ll find some pieces of cardboard featuring large holes to make them easier to lift. The main Steam Machine box features a fabric handle which makes it easier to lift out of the shipping box.
For the Steam Machine box itself there’s a small grippable tab on the front face of the box to help you get initial grip. Pulling this with force will tear a cardboard strip, allowing the box to open.
Once you’ve lifted the Steam Machine out of the box you’ll find the system’s HDMI and Power cables underneath. The cardboard covering access to these cables has a hole in the centre, and cutouts at the corners, to assist in removing it from the packaging more easily. It is however a bit of a tight fit, so you’ll need some sustained upward force to pull the cardboard out of the base.
While the power cord is wrapped up using a velcro fastening, the HDMI cable is unfortunately secured with a cable tie, which will be tricky for some disabled users to navigate unassisted.
Physical Setup
Setting up the Steam Machine is in theory as simple as plugging in a mains power cable and an HDMI cable (or display port cable). There is something elegant to that, compared to a windows self-built living room PC. Its small form factor and limited number of required inputs does make initial setup really simple, and simplifies moving it between rooms.
This has been a particularly appealing aspect of the Steam Machine for me, as someone whose use case for the system involves moving it back and forth fairly frequently. I’m using the device partly as a living room gaming machine, and partly as an external gaming machine in my streaming setup (so that I’m not trying to run the game that I want to stream and do the streaming of it on the same hardware bandwidth). Being able to move the Steam Machine between those two setups with only two cables needing to be considered makes that experience pretty close to that of a console.
That said, there were a couple of additional things needed for first time setup.
First Boot
The first thing you need to do when setting up the Steam Machine is connect an input device to navigate through first time setup. I for some reason couldn’t use my 2026 Steam Controller during this initial setup, instead needing to plug in a PlayStation 5 Dualsense controller, then set up the Steam Controller once I’d made it through the initial setup process. I believe there was meant to be a screen during setup asking if I wanted to pair a Steam Controller to the Steam Machine, but for whatever reason I didn’t get that prompt.
Of note – While the Steam Machine features text to speech narration support, this is not automatically active during the initial setup. Screen Reader support should activate if you press the Steam Button and the Select Button at the same time, but this information is not made immediately apparent during initial setup.
The initial setup itself is pretty simple – Set your language, set your Timezone, connect to the internet, then wait while the system updates. You may need to manually plug your Steam Controller into the Steam Machine’s USB ports for an initial update, but after that the Steam Controller should work wirelessly, without the need to use the controller’s wireless puck peripheral.
Settings
The 2026 Steam Machine runs SteamOS, Valve’s Linux gaming focused operating system (the same one seen on the Steam Deck). As a result, a lot of the settings options seen on the Steam Machine pretty closely mirror those seen today on the Steam Deck.
I think the above is best emphasised by pointing out that, in a few places, the Steam Machine’s UI erroneously refers to itself as being a Steam Deck.
As much of the settings menu contents here will be familiar to Steam Deck users I’m going to skim through some of it fairly quickly. If you’d like a more in depth look at the settings, feel free to check out my Steam Deck accessibility review from a coupld of years ago, just bear in mind some things have updated since then.
The Steam Machine can be connected to the internet via Wifi, or an ethernet cable. By default it ships with either 512GB or 2TB of built in memory, with the option to expand storage via a MicroSD card inserted into the front of the machine. If you own a Steam Deck, you can take the Micro SD card out of that Steam Deck, insert it into the Steam Machine, and instantly play any games that were installed to the MicroSD card, assuming that you’re logged in on the same Steam account.
Controllers can be connected via Bluetooth. I’ll explain more on this in the accessibility controllers section of the review.
By default, the Steam Machine is set so that 1080p is the maximum resolution available for games. This can be increased in the settings. I would recommend setting this to 1440p. You can also set text, UI, and Image sizes to automatically scale to match output resolution, or manually impact scaling with sliders.
Steam OS features a built in magnifier function, activated via controller shortcut. The percentage that this magnifies the screen can be customised, up to 300%.
The Steam Machine supports HDMI CEC, which basically means your TV and Steam Machine can control each other’s wake up or sleep cycles. You can for example use a Steam Controller to wake up the Steam Machine and turn on your TV at the same time, or have the Steam Machine automatically go into sleep mode when your TV gets turned off.
The Steam Machine features an audio slider in the settings menu, but also supports using HDMI CEC to control your TV’s volume from the Steam Machine.
The Steam Machine features a row of LED lights on its front face, which can have their default colours customised. In my case I did my best to turn it into a trans flag, but there’s no ability to have the LED’s just be white, so I had to kind of fudge the numbers a bit.
While you can set the front LEDs to pulse, “breathe”, or alternate through a rainbow spectrum, you can also turn these lights off entirely or set them to a solid colour if movement on the light bar is likely to be distracting.
One useful feature also offered is for the light bar to act as a download progress indicator, including while the system is in sleep mode.
In a dedicated accessibility menu players can alter UI scale, switch on High Contrast Mode (which makes Steam OS info bars more distinct, it’s not the same as the bright block colour highlighting that you might see on PlayStation), reduce motion within Steam OS, and set colour filters within Steam OS (Greyscale, inverted colours, inverted brightness, and colourblindness focused filters). These filters will also be applied when booting up games, meaning you can force a game without a greyscale option to boot in greyscale, or apply a colourblind filter to a game without support for them.
While post process filters are not best practice for colourblind accessibility, this does at least mean that any game played on Steam Machine has a colourblind filter option available that it can fall back on in a worst case scenario.
Players can also set their audio on the Steam Machine to mono.
Screen Reader support on the Steam Machine can be toggled on and off using the Steam Button and Select shortcut, but also can be toggled in the accessibility menu. Options are available to alter screen reader volume, speech rate, speech pitch, and speech language. The screen reader appears to be natively generating text to speech rather than playing audio files, meaning that audio retains clarity when set to a high playback speed.
Controller Remappings Transfer / Consistency
In most cases, if you’ve already created a custom controller profile for a game on the Steam Deck, it should automatically be applied as your default on Steam Machine, with some weird caveats.
If I set up a control scheme on Steam Deck which uses a combination of controller inputs and touch pad inputs, that custom control scheme will automatically appear if I play the same game on the Steam Machine using my Steam Controller, but it won’t always show up if I’m using a different controller that lacks touch pad inputs.
If I set up a control scheme on the Steam Controller on the Steam Machine, that doesn’t automatically transfer to Steam Deck, presumably because the Steam Controller features a handful of unique inputs such as grip detection.
If you create a custom control scheme on a standard console controller, or an accessibility controller, it will seemingly transfer between the Steam Deck and the Steam Machine without issue, regardless of which system the custom layout was initially created on.
Accessibility Controller Support
While Steam OS by default features support for connecting a standard Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo (Pro) controller via bluetooth for use when gaming, I took the time to test out the functionality of all of the major console accessibility controllers with the Steam Machine to see which would connect, and any limitations when using them on Valve’s operating system.
The short version – The PlayStation Access Controller is a bust, but all of the other major accessibility controller options work decently well with minimal effort. The Steam Machine unfortunately doesn’t support using two controllers as a single input user (sometimes called Co-Pilot Mode or Controller Assist Mode), meaning with each controller you’re going to be limited to setups that can be routed through one device.
The Xbox Adaptive Controller
The Xbox Adaptive Controller paired pretty seamlessly with the Steam Machine, being able to be bluetooth paired, and correctly mapping all inputs straight away. I was able to add external 3.5mm input devices mid gameplay, and they instantly worked correctly.
I also confirmed that the Xbox Adaptive Joystick peripheral works perfectly when connected via the Xbox Adaptive Controller. Plugging one into the left USB input correctly maps it to the left analogue stick and D-Pad, with the right port correctly set to the right analogue stick and ABXY face buttons.
This was easily the smoothest experience I had with an accessibility controller on the Steam Machine.
Xbox Adaptive Joystick
The Xbox Adaptive Joystick, when plugged directly into the Steam Machine, defaults to registering as a left analogue stick and ABXY face buttons. This can be remapped within Steam OS settings. You can’t pair this with another controller within Steam, so your best bet if you need additional inputs is to run the Adaptive Joystick through an Xbox Adaptive Controller.
PlayStation Access Controller
While I’ve had some mixed success in the past getting the PlayStation Access Controller to function on a Windows PC, I had a lot more trouble setting one up with the Steam Machine. Despite having previously set up the Access Controller with a default mapping profile using a PS5, when plugged into the Steam Machine very few inputs on the device would register as available inputs, and none of them as correctly customised.
The joystick functioned as a left analogue stick with default orientation direction, and the large central button acted as the X button. Beyond that, the only input I could register was one of the top buttons that defaulted to being mapped to the Start / Options button. I attempted to go into controller remapping via Steam and manually map functions to each button, but unfortunately none of the other buttons registered as generating inputs to Steam.
The experience of attempting to connect a PlayStation Access Controller was also really inconsistent. On a separate occasion I connected the controller and the PS button functioned to open the Steam Machine menu, but none of the other buttons or joystick would register. The inconsistent results I experienced suggest this is likely not an issue we can find an easy fix for.
While this can be worked around on PC using unofficial remapping software alongside programs like Joy2Key, the Steam Machine doesn’t really work for those kinds of setups. Windows programs like Joy2Key can’t be set to run in the background on a Steam Machine, as Steam OS Gaming Mode forces the user into only running a single program at a time.
If anyone finds a work around to get this working, please do let me know.
The Byowave Proteus Controller
Much like the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine does support the Byowave Proteus Controller when updated to the most recent Steam OS Firmware. It supports the old style dongle which would only connect to a single Power Cube, and the new style dongle which allows two Power Cubes to connect as a single controller, allowing for split handed control setups. It doesn’t support software level Controller Assist, so you can’t for example use an Xbox Controller in one hand, and a Proteus setup in the other, as a single input user in Steam.
The Hori Flex
The Hori Flex, designed as a wired Nintendo equivalent to the Xbox Adaptive Controller, worked fairly seamlessly when plugged into the Steam Machine.
You will need to double check that you have the device’s physical switch set to PC, or some inputs may register incorrectly within Steam OS.
3.5mm input switches correctly register as their assigned buttons, though using a USB Joystick will require finding one which is compatible with the Flex, which is a somewhat inconsistent experience.
As Steam OS doesn’t support any form of Controller Assist you won’t be able to use the Flex as part of a setup with a second controller. Any additional inputs will need to be routed through the ports on the Flex.
Accessibility Desktop Program Support
Much like the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine can be used as a Linux Desktop PC, either using a controller or a connected Keyboard and Mouse. Unfortunately, the accessibility potential of this for gaming is fairly limited.
Most gaming accessibility software at present, as well as most game executables, are Windows exe files which do not naturally run in Linux. On the Linux Desktop many of these programs simply will not boot.
While the Steam Machine allows for booting Windows exe files via Proton, this needs to be done via Gaming Mode.
Any Windows applications downloaded on Steam Machine in desktop mode need to be added to Steam as a non Steam application, then booted from within Gaming Mode.
Because Gaming Mode only allows one program at a time to run, and most games won’t boot outside of gaming mode, there’s very little room for using Windows based PC accessibility software that’s designed to behave as a background layer while a game is running.
You may have luck running Linux specific accessibility apps and Linux specific builds of games in desktop mode in concert with each other, but you may also be better installing Windows as a dual boot option on the machine for those kinds of accessibility use cases.
The Steam Controller
I’m going to keep my commentary on the Steam Controller here fairly minimal. If you’d likemy much more in depth accessibility review of the Steam Controller, you can find that on my YouTube channel. I will link to the Steam Controller review in the video description.
While the Steam Machine does not ship as default with a Steam Controller, I do think there is value in assessing the accessibility of Valve’s first party controller, given its role in Valve’s growing game ecosystem, and in my experience using the Steam Machine in it’s first week or two.
While there are some aspects I would have loved to see out of the box that aren’t supported on the Steam Controller such as a screw thread for users needing to mount the device, I am pretty pleased with how open and communicative Valve has been about working toward fixes for accessibility barriers with the Steam Controller. The fact that they’ve made 3D print files available for their shell components, and were willing to provide warranty breaking modification instructions upon request to solve a very specific use case, does make me feel that Valve do want to make the effort needed to help make hardware modification of this controller possible, and support the custom controller modification scene’s accessibility efforts.
The packaging for the Steam Controller is relatively accessible for a non accessibility focused device, avoiding many of the cardinal sins of inaccessible packaging e.g. cable ties, tape, and hard to open packets.
While a lot of the software side accessibility support isn’t exclusive to the Steam Controller, the unique aspects of the controller do pair really well with Steam’s controller customisation tool suite. Being able to map a huge number of inputs to a single touchpad for example is great as a tool for facilitating one handed play, and does a lot to help with repositioning inaccessible inputs in other types of setup.
While the controller is a little heavier and larger than other comparable controllers, its sheer number of input options makes it feel more premium than its closest competition. For the additional cost compared to an Xbox Series or PS5 controller, you do get access to a lot more tools and options that open up unique avenues for creating accessible control schemes.
While the Steam Controller isn’t going to be necessary for everyone, I can see a lot of use cases that it makes more accessible. Broadly it’s a well laid out standard controller with a good number of customisable inputs and custom options to map inputs to. It doesn’t have any of the obvious genre weaknesses of the Generation 1 Steam Controller, and retains all of the benefits that made the original such an interesting prospect.
Overall Thoughts
While the Steam Machine is undoubtedly pricey for its performance level, landing somewhere around the base PS5 model in terms of performance, there are a good number of reasons to like it in practice.
As someone who primarily values a small, compact, quiet device which can play games at 1440p and 60FPS, is easy to disconnect and move around the house, and offers something close to a console experience, I do foresee myself making a LOT of use of the Steam Machine going forward.
I’m the kind of person who, where possible, will trade graphics performance for comfort. I have a gaming PC in my office which could run games better than the Steam Machine, but I will often choose to play those games on my Steam Deck instead because I can easily play a handheld in my living room, and feel like I’ve shut a door behind me at the end of a work day. Much the same way that the Steam Deck drastically increased the number of games that I bought on Steam, I suspect the Steam Machine is likely to do the same. I buy games on consoles mostly because I either want the Switch 2’s portability, or the PS5’s blend of graphics power and console convenience. Owning a Steam Deck and Steam Machine, a game purchase on Steam now gives me the flexibility to play handheld or on my TV with a fairly console-like experience.
There’s going to be a handful of games that the Steam Machine can’t play, like first person shooters with kernel level anticheat, but those aren’t a genre I really play much of anyway. Worst case scenario, a few games I’ll still need to grab on console.
And sure, I’ll probably sometimes still pick up games on Switch 2, just because I really value the thin natured form factor of that device and where it sits power wise.
But yeah, I’m fairly pleased with my first few weeks experience with the Steam Machine. It’s not going to be a fit for every accessibility focused setup, but I am pleased at the variety of accessibility settings built into the Operating System, and the number of accessibility focused controllers that are supported natively by Steam OS.
By 
