It’s not for people that build their own PCs. It’s for console people that are Steam-curious. People that bought the Steamdeck but don’t have a PC. I know a few of them.
I’m excited to see an expansion away from MS and Sony and see what improvements Steam makes for Linux. Steam (combined with Win 11) is a big reason why Linux is growing in use and development.
I like Steam as a whole but I do wish the PC market was a little more decentralized.
Until we know the price point, it’s really hard to judge if the SteamCube is going to be a good entry point for Console > PC gaming, but I’m hopeful. Mostly because I don’t have time to build a PC and don’t wanna pay out the nose for pre-builts.
No, the interesting part is not that Valve is releasing a box.
The interesting part is that they are releasing a desktop platform linux OS that is basically a commitment from the largest and most integrous digital distribution platform in the world that has an unshakable chokehold on gaming, past, present, and future. It's a declaration of war upon Microsoft, in a time in society where the people also desperately need a champion for home computing.
The interesting part is Valve is positioning themselves to potentially do an incredible amount of good for a lot of people fed up with publicly traded companies min-maxing extraction of money and forced reliance upon inferior service and software.
It's not a box with steam on it. It's an OS option for those of us that want to game in peace.
Bold of you to assume you can build an equivalent PC in terms of price/performance without knowing Steam Machine's price. Good luck with RAM
“I can build a better PC For less money.”
How would you know? They literally haven’t announced a price, yet.
EDIT: The only official word we’ve had on pricing is that it will be priced “like a PC”. Their stated reasoning is that because it’s a general purpose PC on an open platform, making margin back on games isn’t a guarantee.
If they priced it too low, there would be nothing stopping volume purchasers (like companies) buying them all up at scale because it’s the best compute / $ and then not using them for actually playing games.
The difference between the Steam Machine and an off the shelve gamer pc, is that Valve has created a viable pathway to move away from Microsoft's dominance in the PC gaming market. This is Valve showing to PC hardware makers that a PC gaming market without Windows is possible. Valve just needs to prove that consumers are willing to buy a Linux gaming machine, so the Steam Machine is the litmus test. Microsoft is Valve's biggest threat to the survival of their business. Since MS's anti-consumer behavior will push consumers away from PC gaming. Valve wants to create a PC gaming market where MS's choke hold has been destroyed. Remember this isn't Valve's first attempt, the first Steam Machine was released when Win8 was released where MS tried to push the Windows Store as the default way to download software.
There's a hidden advantage here apart from moving away from Microsoft, or having 1st party controller support.
Game devs will have a precise target to optimize for.
If enough steam machines and steam decks are out there, it simplifies porting software since you have a handful of fixed targets to hit. A studio could easily buy a few of these appliances for testing and development, and know for certain the product will run as intended. It's a luxury currently enjoyed by consoles, and it really does help their dominance in their respective niches.
This also helps smaller studios since the bare minimum means targeting a known steam platform, rather than pulling machine specs out of thin air and taking their best shot. It's a much easier problem to solve and takes a lot less time and money.
I think there will always be room for high-end gaming, but as long as you're "steam machine 2025 compatible" or whatever, you know what you're going to get.
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