The Steam Machine is already sold out in Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan, well ahead of Valve’s official release date for the device. In these regions, Valve is selling the PC via the retailer Komodo Station, and it chose not to do a lottery pre-sale as it has on Valve’s official store pages, meaning pre-orders could immediately be snaffled up by speedy shoppers.
In contrast, those in the likes of the US and UK who are hoping to buy what could still prove to be one of the best gaming PCs around have had several days to sign up for the chance to order a unit. Valve will then randomly pull names out of its virtual hat later today, finally giving buyers the chance to order their Steam Machine.
Valve appears to have implemented its current system following the Steam Controller launch, when it allowed people to buy two controllers at once, leading to them selling out within minutes and hundreds of units subsequently appearing on reselling sites for hugely inflated prices. The new lottery system helps avoid scalpers targeting the Steam Machine for such profiteering.
As for Komodo Station’s approach, it’s certainly possible that only the keenest buyers chose to order the Machine, given it’s a much more expensive item to start with, you can only buy one (so you can’t keep one for yourself while selling the other), and its price is already being seen as so high that it has put many buyers off. However, we only have to look to previous high-profile tech launches to see that there are always a surprisingly high number of people who are willing to pay over the odds just to have the latest and greatest thing.
All four configurations of the Steam Machine have sold out, with the Japanese Steam Machine price starting at ¥189,980 (~$1,174) for the 512GB model without a controller. This rises to ¥264,980 ($1,637) for the 2TB model with a controller, making both configurations slightly more expensive than in the US.