Valve Not Releasing a Steam Machine... for Now

[exfileme]

Valve could release a Steam Machine, but not anytime soon.

Valve Not Releasing a Steam Machine... for Now : Read more

 

[chumly]

The biggest problem they are going to face with these Steam Machines is marketing. None of these brands are household names with the exception of Alienware.Honestly, I think this is a big win for the little guy, and independents everywhere. The benefit of the Steam box vs. the traditional console is easy to see: The prices are wherever your budget is, you aren't pigeonholed into bad graphics so they can make an affordable machine, likewise, you can go smaller. The game selection is immense, and you could play A-list games completely for free, if you wanted to. Not to mention, the gamer community is huge.I'm really excited to see how all of this plays out this year.

 

[Jgriff]

I really do believe steam should take on the consoles and make steam a semi closed Eco system, just support processors i5 and up and gtx 6 series and up. They could further optimize with a smaller pool of hardware. And plus, amd has their stuff in all 3 consoles, and they have no mini itx boards for their high end chips, leave them out.

 

[Guest]

Leave AMD out? haha, what an intel fan boiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii The Atari 2600 still has and will always have more people buying games for it than a silly steam box.

 

[rulejunior]

Truthfully, I am a bit disappointed in the fact Valve won't be manufacturing the boxes themselves, but I can see why. The hype over them is huge, but they run into the fact they may not sell well (which is always a possibility) and that could be a loss for them. Now if I am correct, they contracted it out to the 13 developers because 1) if they don't sell well, then they won't be losing large amounts of cash, and 2) If I am correct, they will be receiving a royalty on each one sold since this is based off their general design. Also, they need to get AMD drivers out for Steam OS. Really interested in dual booting it.

 

[Jgriff]

@deadmeow after 3 amd CPUs fail on you in an unacceptable amount of time I'm sure you would be too. Tho they were laptop processors, still...makes no difference to me. They have some quality issues in my eyes.

 

[damianrobertjones]

Clever... Let other FOOLS run the risk for them.

 

[back_by_demand]

Get SteamOS to run 100% of the games catalogue, or as a bare minimum all current and future AAA titles and it may take off. Restrict what a gamer can play, then as a gaming platform it is not fit for purpose.

 

[WithoutWeakness]

@back_by_demand: So, by your logic, nobody would ever buy an Xbox because Xbox has a restricted library of AAA games and can't play The Last of Us or Uncharted. And nobody would buy a PlayStation because they would miss out on Halo and Gears of War. And neither of them play any Nintendo titles like The Legend of Zelda franchise or any PC games like DOTA or ARMA so I guess nobody is buying any consoles until there is one machine that can play everything. Gamers will never buy anything that has restrictions on what they can do with it.

 

[JD88]

Get SteamOS to run 100% of the games catalogue, or as a bare minimum all current and future AAA titles and it may take off. Restrict what a gamer can play, then as a gaming platform it is not fit for purpose.

They would need Microsoft proprietary software in order to make that work. This is open source and thankfully won't have anything to do with Microsoft whatsoever. This is a huge plus in the long run, even if it means a smaller library at first.

As to why Valve isn't building their own is the same reason why Microsoft didn't build it's own hardware until recently and why Google doesn't build it's own phones and tablets (other companies still make Nexus devices). Leaving hardware to multiple OEMs is a much better way to achieve widespread distribution and adoption.

 

[JD88]

I really do believe steam should take on the consoles and make steam a semi closed Eco system, just support processors i5 and up and gtx 6 series and up. They could further optimize with a smaller pool of hardware. And plus, amd has their stuff in all 3 consoles, and they have no mini itx boards for their high end chips, leave them out.

Leave AMD out?

The interesting thing will be that it will be up to AMD and Nvidia as to which one wants to do better in the Steam Box market. The one who provides the best Linux driver support and thus best performance will likely be used most often. Valve has no control over this since it's a completely open platform. I have to say though, Nvidia has a sizable lead currently in this area so it would make more sense to use them until AMD catches up.

 

[LePhuronn]

AMD better get SteamOS drivers sorted out soon because I got me plans for a Kaveri A10 tied to my Titan rig!Overall I still don't really see the point beyond geek novelty, and the Linux-compatible library is still pretty weak, but I'll keep my eyes and mind open. Could be interesting, could be a total bust.But I do want a cute little Steam Box for the crack of it ;-)