Valve's gaming PC, the Steam Machine, sold out shortly after its release in Japan. In the United States, purchase reservation rights are being traded at a premium, and in China even low-priced replicas have appeared, intensifying the scramble for early supply. As official supply fails to keep up with demand, trading of reservation rights and sales of unofficial substitutes are spreading at the same time.

According to IT outlet TechRadar on June 29 local time, the Steam Machine in Japan sold out quickly after going on sale in stores. Local distributor Komodo Station supplied the product through offline sales rather than a reservation system, but the prepared stock was exhausted in a short period. Complaints from users who could not get the product are also continuing on social media.

In the United States, cases of reselling purchase reservation rights at a premium have also emerged. Valve provided purchase opportunities through a random draw rather than first-come, first-served, and some winners are said to be selling the reservation rights themselves with a premium. Some reservation rights for the 2TB model were listed on auction sites at around $3,500, and cases traded at about $2,800 were also confirmed.

Not all deals have been completed. The reservation-rights trade is structured so the seller must actually follow through with the final order, creating major trust issues. Critics also point out that, as person-to-person transactions outside official distribution channels, buyers are likely to bear the risk.

In China, low-priced products with a similar exterior to the Steam Machine have also appeared. One product posted on Reddit was introduced as featuring a Ryzen 5 5500 processor, 16GB DDR5 memory, an AMD RX 6750 GRE graphics card and a 2TB SSD. The selling price in China is about $688, about half of Valve's U.S. price of $1,349 for the 2TB Steam Machine.

Questions have been raised about the specifications. The Ryzen 5 5500 is an AM4 platform-based processor, but that platform does not support DDR5 memory. Reddit users also questioned whether a large graphics card such as the RX 6750 GRE could actually fit inside the small case shown in the photo. Heat, cooling performance and fan noise were also cited as concerns.

Risks from overseas direct purchases are also significant. Additional costs may arise during the import process, and even if there is a problem with the product it is difficult to expect returns or after-sales support. Analysts also say security risks cannot be ruled out, such as the possibility that the operating system or software was tampered with, given the product is supplied by a seller with an unclear origin.

The Steam Machine market is currently showing two trends at the same time. While official products continue to sell out and trade at a premium due to early supply shortages, low-priced replicas aimed at easing the price burden are also appearing quickly. Critics also say replicas may have different actual components from the advertised specifications, and there is a risk that a different case or parts from the photo could be delivered.

TechRadar said consumers who find the official product price burdensome can also consider buying an alternative product through a verified seller or assembling a PC themselves. It added that recent memory price increases have also pushed up the cost of self-assembly compared with before, and that some features such as HDMI CEC support are an advantage of Valve's product and are not easy to implement directly.