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[Ishma3L]

"Gaming enthusiasts who can't wait for next-gen"

This isn't the 90's or 2000's anymore. Next-gen doesn't happen in the way I believe it is in reference to here. Also, look at the technology on display - Steam Frame? That appears to be more than just a couple of steps forward for VR headsets given the engineering achievements on display there to make that real tangible thing. Valve is very much moving the needle forward.

What's important here is the innovative and risk embracive nature of Valve's culture - in that it will sink large amounts of its capital (albeit reasonably thanks to Steam) into technology ventures that don't need to "succeed" in order to impact the industry in objectively significant ways. I mean shit, Steam Machines weren't a hardware renaissance, but Proton? Game changer.


Also, game developers want to appeal to as much of the market as possible. What is the benefit of making a game that requires only the top % of hardware requirements if even selling extremely well will only saturate a small fraction of the market that has top of the line equipment? Next-gen to me would be more about making something that looks and runs great on a variety of hardware specifications through innovation in optimization pipelines and hardware/software interfacing. I mean in that sense, isn't Valve's contribution here truly "next-gen". Linux has never been as popular as it is now and the fact that people are even considering ditching Windows to just run exclusively on Linux nowadays is fucking huge.

Valve did the little big horn play here - they didn't come at Microsoft head on. They started a Window's based storefront that sold games and gained popularity because it's launch coincided with the launch of a sequel to one of the most important FPSs of all time. It grew into the behemoth that it is now, literally synonymous with PC gaming. It always lived within its means too. It stayed relatively small organizationally given its capital gain. Now, it does what it wants to include supporting the Linux OS. It's like a brain trust or think tank.

Maybe Astray was right all along. I'm just a small minded man that can't see the forest for the trees.

 

[seb85]

People who are happy with native resolution of 720p upscaled to 4k

 

[Minsc]

People who are happy with native resolution of 720p upscaled to 4k

Being a bit factitious here, the Steam Deck runs at 800p and uses 20W. This thing will run at ~130W, it's not going to be doing the same performance as the Deck running at 20W.

 

[darrylgorn]

People who hate being forced to use motion blur.

 

[seb85]

Being a bit factitious here, the Steam Deck runs at 800p and uses 20W. This thing will run at ~130W, it's not going to be doing the same performance as the Deck running at 20W.

The problem isn't the power but the limitation of VRAM , since steam deck has unified memory it can allocate more memory to the gpu while steam machine can't

 

[TheKratos]

Collectors. Ain't no other explanation why someone would buy this.

 

[PeteBull]

People who are happy with native resolution of 720p upscaled to 4k

Yups, for comparision thats rx 7600, so desktop rdna3(same archi) with 165W tdp(gabecube is rdna 3 with only 115W tdp so visibly less performance, not 5-10% only, it will be likely around rtx 3060 or sometimes even below that)

AMD Radeon RX 7600 Specs

AMD Navi 33, 2655 MHz, 2048 Cores, 128 TMUs, 64 ROPs, 8192 MB GDDR6, 2250 MHz, 128 bit

www.techpowerup.com

Look at wukong at medium settings 1080p(can see it in the vid)- cant hold stable 60, and thats a game that launched over year ago, august 2024.

Next demading game AC Shadows, launched this year march: combo of low and medium settings, once again cant hold stable 60 at native 1080p either.

Non demanding games will run fine, aka stable 1080p60 at high maybe even very high, but as soon as game is any type of demanding/looks proper current gen= performance gonna tank big time.

Gabecube isnt out yet, will likely launch in 2026, we are still at the end of 2025, now imagine that- we fastforward only measly 2 years to holidays 2027- ps6 and xbox pc already launched- u see how much nicer demanding games look and run on those and ur old trusty weaksauce gabecube sweating and struggling bigtime with those demanding games from mid/end of 2027(we just entered crossgen period).

That scene ps6 vs gabecube gonna play exactly like this:

 

[Astray]

Valve did the little big horn play here - they didn't come at Microsoft head on. They started a Window's based storefront that sold games and gained popularity because it's launch coincided with the launch of a sequel to one of the most important FPSs of all time. It grew into the behemoth that it is now, literally synonymous with PC gaming. It always lived within its means too. It stayed relatively small organizationally given its capital gain. Now, it does what it wants to include supporting the Linux OS. It's like a brain trust or think tank.

Maybe Astray was right all along. I'm just a small minded man that can't see the forest for the trees.

I wouldn't call you small-minded, it was just a spirited discussion is all.

I think Valve is %100 coming for Windows, or at the very least, they want to carve out their own sizable slice of the OS market, so that if/when Microsoft decide to mess them up in some way through the OS, they have a safety boat at the very least.

 

[GamesDontSuck]

Someone like me is most likely the target audience. Console gamer for decades. Dabbled in pc gaming here or there over the years. Mostly nothing in comparison.

I really want to play half life alyx for example, but not really interested in buying an expensive pc just for gaming. Rather play on the sofa through a tv.

Thing is tho it is all about price. If the price is basically near a new pc rig then whats the point?

If i could get pc type gaming, especially vr gaming at a better price tag? I am in.

 

[Kadve]

its for steam deck owners , valve is building a fanbase , an eco system for steam OS

Something tells me 90% of all Steam Deck users already got a Gaming PC though

 

[roosnam1980]

Something tells me 90% of all Steam Deck users already got a Gaming PC though

dude everyone got a gaming PC nowadays

 

[rkofan87]

people who want to play Old School pointy clicks and fps's on the television.

 

[reinking]

Are they just quietly trying to make consoles for PC gamers

They are openly trying to make PC games more accessible to all gamers.

 

[Crayon]

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?

Fairly easy. If you are interested, browse the youtube channel etaprime. Seems like he makes a budget steam machine every other week since the moment someone figured out how to roll the deck recovery image into a linux distro.

This is just the latest one. Look for more because he's done a lot of super cheap ones. Haven't watched this so I don't know how much he spent.

 

[Kadve]

dude everyone got a gaming PC nowadays

In other words. Why even buy this thing?

 

[krumble]

Honestly have no idea who exactly this is for, however as a steam deck owner day 1 that machine is a very powerful emulation machine, got most systems up to ps3 / x360 working fairly ok (game defendant)
This new box is supposed to be 6xpowerful than the deck?
I can see that bridging the gap needed for decent ps3/360 and possibly ps4 emulation, which is appealing if the price is right

 

[bradman]

I have a Series X and a PS5 pro, and I want a Steamcube for all of the things I can't play on those 2. It is a complete box I can plug in to the same TV on the same stand as the other 2.

 

[Kacho]

In other words. Why even buy this thing?

Supplemental device like the Steam Deck. Bring your Steam library to the couch. There are loads of indies on PC long before they hit consoles. Plus random niche Japanese games like EDF. If you don't have a PlayStation that's the alternative.

 

[Kadve]

Supplemental device like the Steam Deck. Bring your Steam library to the couch. There are loads of indies on PC long before they hit consoles. Plus random niche Japanese games like EDF. If you don't have a PlayStation that's the alternative.

Steam Link? Way cheaper in that case.

Oh, right. Valve stopped making them because they were way too good of a deal i guess.

 

[Kacho]

Steam Link? Way cheaper in that case.

Oh, right. Valve stopped making them because they were way too good of a deal i guess.

I got a Steam Link on fire sale and it sucked. Not a fan of game streaming.

 

[lakitu1982]

I really think Valve should sell this at a big loss and then sell a pro version for more and make it all back on Steam. This could put an end to Windows gaming in a few years and steal away MS and even Sony's market share. I'd like it as i love steam. Nintendo will Nintendo.

 

[lakitu1982]

I got a Steam Link on fire sale and it sucked. Not a fan of game streaming.

I love Geforce now, can't fault it apart from it didn't have a few of my Steam games like Final Fantasy.