You can now 3D print a Steam Machine that holds tissues instead of games
Someone made a 3D-printable tissue box shaped exactly like Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine, in both 512GB and 2TB “storage” sizes. It’s a gentle joke at the console’s boxy design, and the files are free to print.
Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine hasn’t even launched, and it already has its first accessory: a tissue box shaped exactly like it.
A 3D-printable design recreates the little cube’s look precisely, except instead of a gaming PC, it holds Kleenex. The creator even made two versions, sized to match the Steam Machine’s two real storage options, a 512GB model and a 2TB model, which is the kind of committed bit that makes a joke actually land.
The files are free. If you own a 3D printer, you can have a Steam Machine on your coffee table months before the real one ships, doing the one thing the real one can’t: handing you a tissue.
Why this is funnier than it sounds
The tissue box works because it’s poking at something real about the Steam Machine.
Ever since Valve revealed the compact, boxy console, the internet has had two running jokes about it: that it looks like a piece of anonymous black-cube furniture, and that at $1,049 it’s overpriced for the semi-custom RDNA 3 hardware inside.
The tissue box leans into the first joke, the design is so plain and box-like that turning it into household object is barely a stretch, and quietly nods at the second. If the Steam Machine already looks like something that belongs on an end table, why not make it useful?
It joins a small cottage industry of Steam Machine riffs. An AMD engineer 3D-printed a more powerful “Terk Box” alternative with an RTX 5060 crammed inside, and others have built cheaper mini-ITX lookalikes to make the point that you can beat Valve’s box on price and power. The tissue holder is the comedy entry in that lineup.
The gentle point underneath
None of this is really hostile, and that’s worth saying.
The Steam Machine has genuine enthusiast goodwill, it runs SteamOS, it’s Valve’s play to keep PC gaming off Windows’ leash, and plenty of people are rooting for it. The tissue box isn’t a takedown.
It’s the kind of affectionate ribbing a product only gets once it’s iconic enough to be recognizable as a silhouette, and “recognizable as a silhouette” is exactly what a tissue box needs to be funny.
So print one, stick it next to the couch, and enjoy the only Steam Machine you can own right now, the one that solves runny noses instead of running games. The real one arrives later.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
PC Gamer (August 2026), verified for the 3D-printable Steam Machine tissue box, the design recreating the console’s look, the 512GB and 2TB versions matching the storage options, and the free print files
Tom’s Hardware (June 2026), verified for the $1,049 Steam Machine price, the semi-custom RDNA 3 hardware, and the widespread disappointment over pricing and availability driving DIY alternatives
TweakTown and 80 Level (June 2026), verified for the AMD engineer’s Terk Box 3D-printed alternative with an RTX 5060, and the broader trend of Steam Machine-inspired DIY builds