Steam Machine Preorder Emails Are Super Confusing

What’s confusing is the terminology the company’s using. If you’re in the “queue,” you can buy the specific model of Steam Machine within three days of your email. If you landed on the “waitlist,” you’ll have to wait until more supply becomes available.

This is the email sent to those in the queue, who can place an order soon: “When your Steam Machine 512GB becomes available, we will send you a separate email with the option to purchase. You’ll then have 3 days to complete the purchase before we cancel your reservation and move on to the next person in the queue. This is the only email you will receive about the results of the randomization. If you ended up with a reservation queue spot for more than one model, you were allocated a reservation for the highest-end model, and were removed from all the others.”

And this is the email sent to those placed on the waitlist: “When we did the one-time randomization of the list, your place in line ended up beyond the number of units we’ll have in this production run. 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 via email that you have a reservation after all. This is the only email you will receive about the results of the randomization. If you ended up with a waitlist spot for one or more models, you’ll be placed on the waitlist for the model that you were closest to the front of.”

Early impressions of the Steam Machine sound promising, as it operates as a living room PC that appears to be a novel way into PC gaming. It runs well, runs quiet, and runs small. It also runs your wallet, with prices as low as $1050 and as high as $1430. I hope you have half of a month’s rent just lying around somewhere.