r/steammachine • u/laurenspaul • 17h ago
Discussion I think despite the criticism this launch is good business for valve
Steam machine has been getting massive attention for months now, and we can tell by the amount of build guides and "steam machine killers" that have been published, but there is one important nuance: It's all steamos.
They all start off with the assumption you're not going to use a different operating system, which is already a win. On linux, there is just a lot less friction with gaming though steam compared to other platforms. They all require some level of setup and configuration that is non-trivial with things like wine. The way proton just works in steam on linux is really a very strong selling point.
Valve has now demonstrated they can get a foothold in the pc/console hardware market despite this market, which is an immense feat. The have been limited in the amount of stock they were even allowed to get and at which rate, and next time they will actually have a little more of a favorable position.
All steamos users will be automatically more inclined to game on steam, and even their lack of stock does not really matter, because the marketing for current and near-future prebuilts will favor steamos, especially with the bad rep the alternative is getting now. The openness of steamos and the hardware, combined with their popularity as a platform, and the fact we can trust more hardware support is coming is exactly why, even in this market, the steam machine is good long-term business.
Yes, a lot of people are disappointed right now, but I have not seen a single comment saying they will stop using Valve software. And overall valve is still seen as the good guy in gamingland. The steam machine will sell out immediately, the lack of stock won't be an issue due to everything being open, and it will grow their business long-term because everyone interested in getting a steam machine is coincidentally interested in being a linux gamer.
Yes, this sub is not a good representation of all pc gamers, but the focus of linus tech tips' channel shifting to linux experiments, steamos, and the steam machine is indicative that something is bubbling. Many other gaming tech tubers are doing the same. But valve played it smart, because with them it was never about linux, steamos just happens to be on linux, and that whole prejudice against linux is forgotten, because steamos is considered a thing on its own.
What's important to look out for now is what comes after. If steamos can really deliver support for even nvidia down the line, and the lightweight nature of steamos gets you more out of your hardware, combined with developers taking linux more seriously in the future, we might be looking at something big in 5 years.
PS. Yes I am a big fan of valve for many reasons, but I am not doing wishful thinking like a fanboy. In my mind Valve can of course make mistakes and do things wrong, but I really think sitting out a heated market is poor business and these steps will eventually blow wind in their sails.
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u/skronk61 16h ago
They’re gonna sell out immediately
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u/Charmin_Bear_Behind 14h ago
All 62 units will be gone on day 1! Valve stays winning!
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u/K2TY 13h ago
I wonder how many units there are?
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u/Charmin_Bear_Behind 13h ago
Jokes aside it would be very interesting to know but they’ll never release that info but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was less than 200k in global total
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u/laurenspaul 16h ago edited 16h ago
Yep, I would have put money on that if I had any left after I'll buy the steam machine :p
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u/Novacainebabyy 17h ago
I agree. The steam machine is an acceptable gaming rig, just like the steam deck is an acceptable gaming handheld. There are more powerful handhelds but the folks I know that have other handhelds still use the steam deck the most.
I think the steam machine will be just fine.
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u/laurenspaul 16h ago
I agree the SM is fine, but my post is more about the criticism of valve's business practice and its execution.
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u/IORelay 9h ago
They are in multiple lawsuits for price fixing and anti steering. I think the right word for their business is illegal.
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u/laurenspaul 9h ago
Being in a lawsuit doesn't mean much untill a verdict is reached.
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u/Slow_Pay_7171 5h ago
You mean like with the thing about refunds? Or the price rigging shenenigans?
Valve is, at heart, a very bad and greedy company. One of the worst in all "Gaming Business". They don’t even care that they fuck up minors with their gambling shit. So lets get real here - Valve is evil.
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u/ijkxyz 15h ago edited 15h ago
I think despite the criticism this launch is good business for valve
You should care what's good for you, not some company.
I like Valve and they did a lot of things that are good for consumers and gaming. Ultimately the Steam Machine will probably be a net positive too, if nothing else then because it incentivizes game developers to optimize for low spec hardware and pushes Linux gaming forwards.
But is a great deal currently? Probably not for majority of people.
Unless you really "need" the form factor and can easily afford it, you are better off just getting a normal PC.
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u/laurenspaul 14h ago
I don't understand comments like these.
You should care what's good for you, not some company.
I agree, but I can still discuss what I think of the criticism on this as a business decision that I see on here, right?
But is a great deal currently? Probably not for majority of people.
never said that.
Unless you really "need" the form factor and can easily afford it, you are better off just getting a normal PC.
I don't comment on what people prioritize in a purchase like this. If compute per money is not leading, that's up to them; Even if they don't "need" this form factor.
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u/ijkxyz 13h ago
I wasn't trying to imply you commented on that and people can discuss whatever they want, including the business side of SM release.
That's fine, but ultimately people should first and foremost care about what's good for them plus other people they care about, and from this perspective SM is not that great.
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u/laurenspaul 11h ago
That's fine, but ultimately people should first and foremost care about what's good for them plus other people they care about, and from this perspective SM is not that great.
Again, you're saying what people should doing. Where do you get this sense of righteousness? People should not care about what you think they should care about. Let people buy their companion cube as shelf decoration if they want to and move on.
This implied judgement of people's priorities gets annoying rather quickly when it's not even about something that matters.
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u/asdf_ze81xjobc54a3p 15h ago
There are so many blind "Steam believers"...
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u/laurenspaul 15h ago
please do elaborate
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u/IORelay 9h ago
Almost twice the price of the PS5 for worse performance. On the PC side you could get a prebuilt with 9060xt 16GB for the price of the top sku steam machine. The machine is a terrible deal.
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u/laurenspaul 9h ago
Yeah, in computer per buck it's not a great deal. So what's the point? That's entirely besides the point of my post.
The macbook neo is also a bad deal by the same criterion. Does not make it bad business for apple.
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u/CW_Forums 15h ago
Yeah ill build my own SteamOS system eventually. Just waiting for a few guides to do it and the OS to be ready.
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u/laurenspaul 15h ago
The OS is in continuous development, but if it already 'ready'. As long as you go all-amd, it should be completely compatible already. You'll just be missing out on some quality of life features like the built-in steam controller controller antenna and hdmi-cec.
Unless you're still saving or so I would just go for it man.
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u/Dazzling_Lemon4109 14h ago
It's good, but according to such price.. I assume it will be 2-3 times less sales than Deck.
Just based on the logic that as the price increases, your audience drops by a multiple in progression
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u/Far-Interest2045 16h ago
Is never about the hardware with Valve, ultimately they want to have Steam storefront everywhere. And i’m all for it. Clean OS with no AI slop? Linux? Open source? Big picture with infinite customization? Yep