The device was released along with the debut of Steam Machines in November 2015.

Steam Link is a stand-alone hardware device to enable streaming of Steam content from a personal computer or a Steam Machine wirelessly to a television set, including integration of Steam Controller gamepad. With an update in March 2019, Valve introduced the Steam Link Anywhere update that allows one to stream across the internet, though the performance of the streaming will be strongly affected by the bandwidth and latency between the personal computer and device with Steam Link. Prior to March 2019, both the personal computer and the Steam Link hardware device or mobile device using Steam Link software had to be on the same internal network. In this setup, the device acting as the Steam Link (the hardware unit or the mobile device in software form) enables a game controller connected to it to be used to control the game over the connection to the home computer. Steam Link, whether in hardware or software form, supports the streaming of content from a personal computer running Steam to the video device (a connected television or monitor for the hardware unit, the mobile device's screen for the software version). Valve discontinued the Steam Link hardware device in November 2018, in favor of supporting its software-based Steam Link application for mobile devices and smart televisions, as well as providing Steam Link as a software package for the Raspberry Pi microcomputer.

Steam Link was originally released as a hardware device alongside the debut of Steam Machines in November 2015. Steam Link is a hardware and software product developed by Valve Corporation for streaming Steam content from a personal computer or Steam Machine wirelessly to a mobile device or other monitor.

Raspberry steam link