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[ozz ex machina]

I think the presumption has to be that Valve really haven't sunk much money into putting this thing together, and will spend even less on marketing it. It's five year old tech in a black box. Selling direct to consumer they'll make more on each one sold, and they probably will 'manufacture on demand' and not hold much stock.

I suspect they will make money on each box and their sales aspirations are relatively modest.

I keep saying this in threads. But why the fuck do people keep thinking Valves intention is make profit on the hardware? They literally PRINT profit through virtual gun skin sales and digital transactions. This is a play to start taking a larger footprint in the PC space with Steam OS. Pushing people to consider moving away from Windows. This is their play. Their play is NOT to make profit off some hardware sales. If their motive was purely short term profit, they wouldn't be bothered with this shit AT ALL.

 

[GoldenEye98]

I feel like if you going to buy this with the idea of longevity you would just have to view it as a 1080p machine from the outset.

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

I like to play a lot of old games on PC, especially older JRPGs. This is perfect for me for my game room for that; however, if I can just build something on my own and have it run the same steam OS but for cheaper, I will do just that.

Speaking of that, is it easy to build a gaming pc and put Steam OS directly on it?

 

[Brakum]

Do you want something like a console that's plug and play on your tv but instead of liking cinematic games you like roguelikes, strategy games, multiplayer games, indie games in general, having a huge library with the most and dare i say best exclusives?

All those people.

 

[justiceiro]

They said themselves: people who would like to have a steam deck connected to the tv at all times. So, valve drones mostly.

It's a shame, the one company that understands pc gaming putting out a product that will be incredible limited out of the gate.

 

[pudel]

Speaking of that, is it easy to build a gaming pc and put Steam OS directly on it?

Yep...its not really rocket science to build a pc....you slap together a few parts and thats it. Afterwards you put on whatever OS you desire....or all at once.

 

[Felessan]

Oh, has the price been shared?

Did you miss "unlikely"?
Valve didn't sell SteamDeck at loss, though lower model had minimal margin. And without subsidization and at much lower contract size for everything, from components to assembly to AMD royalty - it's unlikely that Steam Machine will land at price point lower than PS5

 

[ClanOfNone]

If the price is right, I'll definitely buy one.
I'm a weird demographic though, I just want access to my Steam library and the store, there are a ton of lil releases that never see console storefronts.
I don't care about running stuff at 4k/60, 99% of the stuff I want to play is either ancient or pixel art games that'll run on a toaster. Also don't care about multiplayer issues as I only play single player stuff.

 

[pacman4000]

PC players who already own a good gaming PC and are looking for a complement - for living room use.

 

[Brakum]

They said themselves: people who would like to have a steam deck connected to the tv at all times. So, valve drones mostly.

It's a shame, the one company that understands pc gaming putting out a product that will be incredible limited out of the gate.

High end PC gaming is such a small fraction of the pie. You're right that they understand PC gaming really well, that's why they did what they did.

Also not only is high end PC gaming a small percentage, out of those, only a tiny percentage would be interested in playing anywhere but their desktop with their dual monitors, mouse and keyboard and what not.

And as someone with a high end PC myself, this would be more appealing to me than a high end machine, just like i got a steam deck, i dont expect it to work as well as my PC, nor do i want it too, i dont want it for the same type of games anyway. I play JRPG's on it and some smaller games where it doesnt matter if i'm playing with a controller, anything that's slightly better on keyboard i wouldn't play on my steam deck, i'll just go play it on my PC instead.

 

[Saber]

I would say anyone who have games on Steam to a certain degree.

 

[SScorpio]

I like to play a lot of old games on PC, especially older JRPGs. This is perfect for me for my game room for that; however, if I can just build something on my own and have it run the same steam OS but for cheaper, I will do just that.

Speaking of that, is it easy to build a gaming pc and put Steam OS directly on it?

It has to be an full AMD system to run official Steam OS right now. There are 3rd party distributions that are similar in functionality that support NVIDIA cards.

But if you are running old games, a mini PC could be even cheaper. I just did one to make my own Steam Machine last week. You can thank me for my sacrifice.

https://www.neogaf.com/threads/valv...eam-console-yet-fine-ill-make-my-own.1689972/

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

I'm just rooting for this for proper actual steam os desktop support.

The second I can move my library off a Windows PC? I'm done. Gone. Poof.

 

[ozz ex machina]

They said themselves: people who would like to have a steam deck connected to the tv at all times. So, valve drones mostly.

It's a shame, the one company that understands pc gaming putting out a product that will be incredible limited out of the gate.

It sounds like it's limited out the gate because they do know about PC gaming? The people who care about performance...ALREADY HAVE GOOD PCS.

 

[Wildebeest]

The best growth market for this would be parents whose kids game on phones/tablets/old laptops who keep asking them for a PC. That would be hard because those kids would just see it as a fake PC that can't play all the games their streamer idols are playing.

But Valve have looked at the system specs of their user base and have noticed that a lot of people are holding off on upgrading, and would appreciate something that improves their play experience of their existing library.

 

[poppabk]

I think it's people who want to play games on PC but don't want to spend a lot of money and/or time on getting a PC.

 

[mrMUR_96]

That I do not want a huge damn aluminum chassis in my living room together with a bunch of cables and a separate desk for monitor and KB+M? Some of us really like minimalist environment. I do all my work on a notebook that goes to the drawer when not in use. The only thing underneath a TV (mounted on a wall) is a piano, with Apple TV and router (all three in black) on top, cables hidden behind.


Check the comparisons between Windows and SteamOS running same games on the same hardware, then report back.

SFF PCs exist, I have a nice wooden panelled mATX PC in my living room, it's not a big ass aluminium chassis. I have one cable for power and a HDMI out, the same as my PS5. I use bluetooth to pair my controller and headset. I sit on my sofa, not on a desk for my PC, I just switch the hdmi cable between my PC and PS5 whenever I move between the two. I love my minimalist setup. The OS has negligible, if any impact on gpu VRAM, I agree windows is a bit bloated, but that impacts CPU and RAM more than anything else and it's still quite minor. No amount of OS optimisation is going to help 8GB vram and a low CU count RDNA 3 card. If the OS is that much of a problem, you can literally install Steam OS on PC. I think you have a very old school way of looking at PCs, they don't have to be big cases connected to a monitor with a M/KB.

 

[mrMUR_96]

PC players plays a lot of AA and indies (Palword, V Rising, Valheim, Enshrouded, etc). That's enough for them...

Yeah absolutely it's enough for those games, but I just think 8GB is shooting themselves in the foot a bit. How much more could adding more vram have cost valve, it causes issues on high end games and has a big impact on future proofing it.

 

[DenchDeckard]

That I do not want a huge damn aluminum chassis in my living room together with a bunch of cables and a separate desk for monitor and KB+M? Some of us really like minimalist environment. I do all my work on a notebook that goes to the drawer when not in use. The only thing underneath a TV (mounted on a wall) is a piano, with Apple TV and router (all three in black) on top, cables hidden behind.


Check the comparisons between Windows and SteamOS running same games on the same hardware, then report back.

Look at a Fractal Terra and tell me you wouldnt have that in your front room. Its smaller than a PS5



The Fractal Design Terra (
343×153×218343 cross 153 cross 218
mm) is significantly smaller and more compact than a standard PS5 (
390×260×104390 cross 260 cross 104
mm) and even a PS5 Slim (
358×216×96358 cross 216 cross 96
mm), especially in height. The case's volume is approximately 10.4 liters, compared to the PS5's larger overall footprint.

Fractal Design Terra review

Cute, compact, and easy to build with.

www.pcgamer.com

PCs can be small now.

 

[Horseganador]

Well, the same audience that bought Steam Deck will buy it; it will be a niche product that will sell more or less the same.

 

[Rosoboy19]

It's for people who want both affordability AND simplicity.

The games are more affordable than Sony or Nintendo.

The OS is more simple to use than Windows in handheld or living room.

Im excited to pair one with my Steam Deck.

 

[dgrdsv]

PC gamers who want a cheap(ish) nice looking living room prebuilt and aren't afraid of Linux+Proton / are familiar with Deck.
Honestly I'd expect the market here to be smaller than in Deck's case. It could've been bigger if the specs were higher - allowing for a console-like experience with about 2X of current gen console performance. But with such specs it's a very niche device.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

PCs can be small now.

That case is cool, but length-wise this is double than the Steam Machine, also from the article the guy put RTX 4070 Super into it, that card alone is 600€.

 

[reinking]

It is a mini PC so I believe it is aimed at the gaming segment of that growing market. People that either want a mini PC under their TV or console gamers that are bi-curious and want to experiment with SteamOS. I also believe there is a small segment of people that want to ween themselves away from Windows as much as possible.

 

[GoldenEye98]

High end PC gaming is such a small fraction of the pie. You're right that they understand PC gaming really well, that's why they did what they did.

Also not only is high end PC gaming a small percentage, out of those, only a tiny percentage would be interested in playing anywhere but their desktop with their dual monitors, mouse and keyboard and what not.

And as someone with a high end PC myself, this would be more appealing to me than a high end machine, just like i got a steam deck, i dont expect it to work as well as my PC, nor do i want it too, i dont want it for the same type of games anyway. I play JRPG's on it and some smaller games where it doesnt matter if i'm playing with a controller, anything that's slightly better on keyboard i wouldn't play on my steam deck, i'll just go play it on my PC instead.

It still has to be a certain price though imo.

I am not opposed to buying it. A compact, quiet 1080p PC is something I would consider but it has to be relatively close in price to the consoles imo.

 

[gerth666]

This seems like a lovely bit of kit for me personally, and will be a nice little companion to my ps5 pro.
There's loads of interesting games that don't make it over to ps5 that I have a desire to play, plus this is a good way for me to access my total war games from steam.
Will definitely be getting one of these, as long as the price is fair.

 

[AJUMP23]

Gamers in general.

 

[yurinka]

Once it $800-$1000 pricing gets revealed, I'd say PC gamedevs and Valve fanboys.

 

[Fbh]

Depends on the pricing of course, but I could see multiple potential audiences:

- Consoles players who are interested in PC gaming but want something that's not super expensive, doesn't involve picking parts and building it themselves, and offers a more console-like experience.

- PC gamers who want a secondary device, maybe something to put in the living room next to the TV. Play your competitive games and demanding AAA games on your main rig, and the simpler games that work well with a controller (like a Silksong or Hades 2) on the TV with a controller.

- Steamdeck users that frequently use it docked, but want something with better specs.

 

[Bondo]

Depends on the price where id put it.
If i can grab one under PS5 price without having to go build a new pc and it last me a few years- id get that. Access to pc centric games with mouse and KB is what id use it for - Sims, Anno, Pharoah, some racers.
Worth is debatable to me- gotta see price and i doubt its cheap.

 

[Laptop1991]

Need an official price point to make a judgement really. other than that i don't know to be honest.

 

[Wolzard]

More casual gamers, who don't want to spend a lot on a PC, want something ready-made.

 

[rodrigolfp]

The OS is more simple to use than Windows in handheld or living room.

Very false.

 

[RoboFu]

I want one as a living room gaming pc. small and out of way. Use it to stream from my big gaming pc down stairs if a game is too demanding.

I already do this with a pc in my entertainment room and even though it is a small mATX build its still pretty huge in comparison.

 

[Humdinger]

It's not for most of GAF, which has a high percentage of PC gamers who have built their own rigs and prioritize performance. You can hear that in the sneers.

I think it's meant for console gamers like me who are disenchanted with Sony and MS and who periodically ask themselves, "I wonder whether I would enjoy PC gaming?" -- and yet are not tech-inclined and don't want to deal with the hassles of building a unit or with PC gaming in general. A transitional object, so to speak, enabling an easy, smooth jump to PC gaming.

 

[Rosoboy19]

Very false.

I have never had to connect a keyboard or mouse to my Steam Deck to use it in game mode.

My Windows 11 living room pc needs a wireless keyboard/trackpad for random updates and UAC dialog boxes, etc. I can't just use a controller.

My statement was very true.

 

[rodrigolfp]

I have never had to connect a keyboard or mouse to my Steam Deck to use it in game mode.

My Windows 11 living room pc needs a wireless keyboard/trackpad for random updates and UAC dialog boxes, etc. I can't just use a controller.

My statement was very true.

I had on my Deck as the recovery mode doesn't load a virtual keyboard and also can't paste terminal commands on it.



And you can just use a controller as a mouse on Windows.

 

[begotten]

I'll be getting one. Handheld aside - I like the idea of having my Steam library in a non PC setup setting. It's form factor seems like it's something you could actually travel with too.

 

[Akuji]

There are alot of edge cases where u could make use of the steam machine. well, depending on the price ofc.
i plan to setup a lan center in my house. we play league of legends sometimes so a steamos based system would need to be able to run league ...
but otherwise this looks like a decent system for exactly that. i did build around 100 pcs for myself, friends and families over the last 20 years. so i can hunt down ebay and build alot of cheap systems for around 300-500€
that can do it as well. but this would be a unified system without the trouble. If they can get the price around 300€ i think its gonne be fantastic.
if this is a 600€ machine, then, nope.
but my guess is that they are able to get some cheap amd parts because they just buy so much bulk of amd old stuff. ( like 1 gen old stuff ) which means amd can keep their old fab contracts running, probably to give some good prices to steam.
For 300€ i prob buy around 6 for the lan center, ngl. there are very good 150€ monitors these days. good logitech mouse clones, good optical keyboards.
I maybe can get a decked out system for around 500€. The chairs gonne be the most expensive thing.

 

[justiceiro]

High end PC gaming is such a small fraction of the pie. You're right that they understand PC gaming really well, that's why they did what they did.

Also not only is high end PC gaming a small percentage, out of those, only a tiny percentage would be interested in playing anywhere but their desktop with their dual monitors, mouse and keyboard and what not.

And as someone with a high end PC myself, this would be more appealing to me than a high end machine, just like i got a steam deck, i dont expect it to work as well as my PC, nor do i want it too, i dont want it for the same type of games anyway. I play JRPG's on it and some smaller games where it doesnt matter if i'm playing with a controller, anything that's slightly better on keyboard i wouldn't play on my steam deck, i'll just go play it on my PC instead.

It sounds like it's limited out the gate because they do know about PC gaming? The people who care about performance...ALREADY HAVE GOOD PCS.

Found two.

If you guys already have good PCs, you can use steam link to play your games already. You can use directly from your smart tv, no need to buy more shit. If you have steam deck, you can also just dock it when you gonna use it.

Here valve is offering a product that will neither offer a experience better than steam deck offers or it's streams. It's not more portable, is barely more powerful, still has the same compatibility limitations steam deck has. The only reason someone wants that is if they want a valve(tm) product on their setup because they love them so much, meaning: a valve drone.

 

[Rosoboy19]

I had on my Deck as the recovery mode doesn't load a virtual keyboard and also can't paste terminal commands on it.

And you can just use a controller as a mouse on Windows.

Nah…too many little instances that are designed around a keyboard in Windows like account logins, using Afterburner to see performance and cap fps, etc.

I stand by my statement, SteamOS is just easier for handheld and living room

 

[rodrigolfp]

Nah…too many little instances that are designed around a keyboard in Windows like account logins, using Afterburner to see performance and cap fps, etc.

I stand by my statement, SteamOS is just easier for handheld and living room

Virtual keyboard is a thing.

As someone who has both SteamOS and Windows on my Deck, Windows is far easier.

 

[UltimaKilo]

It's for VR players who want a little more power than stand-alone headsets can offer, but don't want to spend $3,000 for a setup with a large footprint.

 

[PlayStaytion]

My little sister, I'm glad she's into Gaming PC cause she's an engineering student.

 

[Brakum]

Found two.

If you guys already have good PCs, you can use steam link to play your games already. You can use directly from your smart tv, no need to buy more shit. If you have steam deck, you can also just dock it when you gonna use it.

Here valve is offering a product that will neither offer a experience better than steam deck offers or it's streams. It's not more portable, is barely more powerful, still has the same compatibility limitations steam deck has. The only reason someone wants that is if they want a valve(tm) product on their setup because they love them so much, meaning: a valve drone.

No actually i could not use steam link. Because my tv might have all bells and whistles in terms of image quality and what not, but despite being a very recent samsung smart tv, for some reason it doesnt even have the play store and there are only a few selected apps on it which doesnt include steam.

Either way, like i said, i would use this the same way i use my steam deck, to play different games that i play on my PC. i dont want to take the keyboard and mouse to my couch so anything that is even 1% better on mouse and keyboard is a game i wouldnt wanna play on it. Which is pretty much every game ever except for third person games and 2d side scrollers. Even things that people love to say work great on controller such as card games, give me a break, i could never, it's so infinitely inefficient to play it on a controller that i would just never do it when i have access to a mouse.

And saying that it's barely more powerful than the steam deck surely is a take.

 

[L*][*N*K]

People who like to play video games?

 

[justiceiro]

No actually i could not use steam link. Because my tv might have all bells and whistles in terms of image quality and what not, but despite being a very recent samsung smart tv, for some reason it doesnt even have the play store and there are only a few selected apps on it which doesnt include steam.

Either way, like i said, i would use this the same way i use my steam deck, to play different games that i play on my PC. i dont want to take the keyboard and mouse to my couch so anything that is even 1% better on mouse and keyboard is a game i wouldnt wanna play on it. Which is pretty much every game ever except for third person games and 2d side scrollers. Even things that people love to say work great on controller such as card games, give me a break, i could never, it's so infinitely inefficient to play it on a controller that i would just never do it when i have access to a mouse.

And saying that it's barely more powerful than the steam deck surely is a take.

You're underestimating so hard the impact of only 8GB has on the games performance:

You will get this thing, and in one week will be asking yourself why aren't you playing on the PC or steam deck instead.

 

[Midn1ght]

PC gamers who want a cheap(ish) nice looking living room prebuilt and aren't afraid of Linux+Proton / are familiar with Deck.
Honestly I'd expect the market here to be smaller than in Deck's case. It could've been bigger if the specs were higher - allowing for a console-like experience with about 2X of current gen console performance. But with such specs it's a very niche device.

Totally agree with everything you said. I've always loved PC gaming and still have a library of over 500 games, but I sold my rig a while back because I needed the money at the time to fix my damn car. Now I just don't feel like going through the hassle of building a new one, or even buying a prebuilt.

I'm 40, and after spending almost 15 years playing PC games at a desk while working a physical job, my back is cooked. I'm busy with family and don't have the time I had in my 20s. This device is perfect for me: buy it, plug it into my TV, sit on the couch, and I'm good to go. PC gaming with console comfort.

The only real downside right now is the specs and probably the 600–700 euro price tag.

 

[Zacfoldor]

It will be a great side machine, so say you have PS5 in your shop but no console in bedroom, move the GabeCube to the bedroom.

It will also allow access to PC exclusives for those of us whose primary device is a console. Most PC exclusives are games with shite graphics and will run at 100% on GabeCube.

So Gamecube, PS6, Switch 2 sounds like a great combo for next gen. This gen I had Switch 1/2, PS5/Pro, and XSX.

GabeCube will take place of Xbox next gen because Xbox sold the XSX to me under a premise that turned out to not be true, which eventually devalued my purchase and made me feel bad about it.

So advantages, portability, affordability, game support directly for the machine, ie game certs. Similar to XSS of last gen but much better. Runs on linux and with certs will punch above its weight class. Probably a better rig than 80% of current steam users. Lots of PC gamers have super specced out rigs that have problems like Windows rot or hardware issues and they just want a stable machine. Stability in older tech becomes much easier to maintain which is concept for the stated reason Nintendo uses old tech, so this is a good move and a well thought out product. All things being equal I would expect it to sell much more at 500 bucks than a super high end Xbox at 1200 bucks but ya never know. Anti-cheat is the only ding against it and I bet they have been working on that for a while. One day that problem will be gone and then what? Hopefully Windows won't suck so bad by then, MS better get to work. Who can solve which problem first? Windows being shit for gaming or Anti-cheat on Gabecube?

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Where's the option for PC gamers who want to exit Windows?