The Steam Machine was released on 29 June 2026, but getting it in South Africa requires a few extra steps.
This is because the device is not available locally – so you will have to purchase it from an international seller.
This will require the use of an international courier service, such as Aramex Global Shopper, to deliver it to South Africa – costing you more money than the console’s base price.
Over and above this, you will have to pay various taxes on your purchase.
Here’s how it works:
A Steam Machine can be purchased from Valve or a retailer. Due to high demand for the console, you may be put in a regional reservation queue.
When your unit is ready, you’ll receive an email notification and have 72 hours to complete the transaction.
Be sure to confirm that your payment method is cleared for international online transactions, and make sure you have the international courier service’s warehouse details handy.
This warehouse address will be given to you when you sign up for the service.
Once purchased, the Steam Machine will be shipped to the provided warehouse address of your chosen courier service.
Upon arrival at the warehouse, you will be contacted to provide a declaration of value – this being the official Valve commercial invoice.
Ensure that the invoice clearly categorises the device as a “New Video Game Console” before uploading the document.
This guarantees the import will be correctly flagged under the 0% duty bracket for video game consoles.
Once accepted, the courier will ship the Steam Machine to South Africa.
When the package arrives in South Africa, the courier’s customs broker will clear it, and you will receive an invoice for your taxes.
These include the 15% Import VAT, 9% Ad-Valorem tax, and the courier’s handling fees.
Paying this fee will release the package from customs storage, and the local courier will complete the order by delivering it to your doorstep.
Steam Machine pricing
The Steam Machine comes in two models: a base version with 512 gigabytes of storage and an upgraded model with two terabytes of storage.
The base model is available for $1,049 (R17,274 excl. VAT and duties), and the two-terabyte model for $1,349 (R22,214 excl. VAT and duties).
This pricing is higher than Valve had originally intended due to the extreme component shortage the global market is experiencing.
“The price at which we sell our hardware is a direct result of the cost of these components,” Valve said in a Steam Blog Post.
“We felt like we had a good understanding of how those costs might change over time when we first started sourcing them for Steam Machine back in 2023.”
However, the massive increases in components over the last year have altered its outlook.
“The overall effect is that our original goal for the price of the Steam Machine is no longer viable,” it said.
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