Dbrand teases new "Companion Cube" skin for Valve’s Steam Machine, arriving in 2026
Dbrand has just published a "Steam Machine Companion Cube" teaser with a "Coming 2026" label, and an email notify form, following the launch of Valve's new Steam Machine. For readers unfamiliar with the reference, the Companion Cube is a recurring object from Valve’s Portal series. It's a modified Weighted Storage Cube marked with pink hearts that players carry through Test Chamber 17 in the original game before being forced to incinerate it - whose deadpan treatment by GLaDOS (another fictional character from the game) turned it into a cult icon.
The teaser’s 2026 timing is in line with Valve’s stated early‑2026 window for its next hardware wave. The page suggests Dbrand is preparing a skin or shell treatment designed around the Steam Machine’s cube‑style enclosure, which implies that the exterior geometry and port placement of the machine are close enough to final for third‑party templating.
Current reporting on the console points to a six‑core Zen 4 CPU paired with a semi‑custom RDNA 3 GPU at 28 compute units, 16 GB DDR5 system memory, and 8 GB GDDR6 VRAM. Storage SKUs listed are 512 GB and 2 TB with microSD expansion. Valve has not announced pricing yet.
I/O and chassis info specifies a DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0, multiple USB‑A, one USB‑C, 1 GbE, Wi‑Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3, inside a compact cube measuring roughly 152 × 162.4 × 156 mm and weighing 2.6 kg, with 17 addressable LEDs. The singular silhouette on Dbrand’s page reflects that same footprint and front‑face detailing.
Performance guidance in official materials and write‑ups frames 4K output as achievable with FSR upscaling rather than native 4K across titles. However, until Valve publishes per‑game targets, we should treat 4K/60 as conditional. Since a major accessory brand is already prepping customization for Steam Machine’s 2026 launch, we can be (almost) sure that the cube‑shaped chassis is close to final. Still, any late adjustments to vents or port locations could potentially affect accessory tolerances.
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