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[Walter Matthau]

With Xbox fading away and transitioning to third party, it's the perfect time for them to step in with a Steam OS device you plug into your television. It's not something that would immediately sell tens of millions, but could start to build marketshare over a few years.

Younger generations already lean towards PC and will have a Steam library they've already built. Sony has already put out several first party titles on Steam and nearly anything third party comes to Steam eventually. Online is free. You'll have synergies where your purchases carry across PC, Steam Deck, and this device. Like Steam and Steam Deck, it would support emulators too.

Do they have the partnerships and manufacturing experience to truly compete on the same scale as Playstation and Nintendo? Not yet.
Has the Steam Deck taken a significant chunk out of Switch sales? Not really.
Is this something that could build momentum over years and become a major player in the console space? Yes.

 

[SSfox]

If it pushes even more Flopny to stop the PC port bs then it's good thing

 

[pudel]

« lol »
« Good luck »

They need only one thing to flip the table. Half-Life 3 exclusive to Steam. You can buy a PC… or their steam deck 2 or console

Half-Life 2 started Steam
Half-Life 3 will start SteamOS PC/Deck/console/VR

Nah, why not give it to everyone? At least the single player. Its not like Steam "needs" exclusiveness. Gabe played always fair in that regard.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Sony and Xbox will have a word with you next gen, lol.

People said the same about Switch 2, yet it ended up supporting cartridges.

 

[Topher]

I wish they go through with this. Valve doesn't have the knowledge or the expertise to manufacture hardware and distribute it on the scale of the big three. It will be a huge money drain endeavor for them.

They do, but even if this rumor is true, Valve doesn't need to sell this at that scale. Just like they don't need Steam Deck to sell at Switch numbers.

 

[Hari Seldon]

About the only use case for this, for me, is for family sharing in other rooms. Otherwise I don’t see why I would daily drive on this when I have a much more powerful PC already. Especially because it can’t entirely replace a PC simply because a significant portion of the PC games I play are simply desk games, and that it won’t run other storefronts or be compatible with my entire old library.

 

[Killer8]

I can see this only doing a bit better than Steam Machines...

Valve are more prepared now that Steam OS is much more mature. Generally, Steam Deck works really well due to the UI, the Proton translation layer and robust control customisation. Applying the same principles to a console-like, big screen PC experience could functionally work well. I'd certainly consider buying one to get PC out of the horrible unintuitive rut that it occupies in the living room space.

In terms of sales success though? For as many advances as Valve have made, they are still not at the frictionless ease-of-use that consoles enjoy. It'll also be competing with the economies of scale and frequently subsidized world of console manufacturing. The greater price will naturally end up reflecting that. Valve can't afford to do the same loss leader model where the hardware is cheaper and the software sales make up for it.

 

[Horseganador]

Launching a console on a large scale is not easy, Switch2 is going to sell more than SteamDeck in its first weeks.

 

[HogIsland]

I think a Valve console is inevitable, but this rumor is fake

 

[demigod]

This guy is full of shit as usual.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Nah, why not give it to everyone? At least the single player. Its not like Steam "needs" exclusiveness. Gabe played always fair in that regard.

Where's Half Life Alyx on PSVR 2?

 

[pudel]

Where's Half Life Alyx on PSVR 2?

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

This guy is full of shit as usual.

He has gotten enough right that Tom Henderson brought him on board at Insider Gaming

 

[ReBurn]

I would love a box around the PS5/XSX spec and price with SteamOS that hooked up to my TV to play my Steam library on.

 

[Sorcerer]

Where's Half Life Alyx on PSVR 2?

Where's Half Life Alyx on PSVR 2?

Doubt it's worth porting over. I think Valve can live without those 10 users who own a PSVR 2.

 

[Beechos]

Eww. Either get a console or build your own pc at that point. Main reason why steam machine failed and deck succeeded was the portability factor. They are better off with steamdeck 2 and a dock for tv play.

 

[Kacho]

He has gotten enough right that Tom Henderson brought him on board at Insider Gaming

I didn’t know that. Interesting. Tom Hendo is legit so that gives this guy cred.

 

[Walter Matthau]

I can see this only doing a bit better than Steam Machines...

Valve are more prepared now that Steam OS is much more mature. Generally, Steam Deck works really well due to the UI, the Proton translation layer and robust control customisation. Applying the same principles to a console-like, big screen PC experience could functionally work well. I'd certainly consider buying one to get PC out of the horrible unintuitive rut that it occupies in the living room space.

In terms of sales success though? For as many advances as Valve have made, they are still not at the frictionless ease-of-use that consoles enjoy. It'll also be competing with the economies of scale and frequently subsidized world of console manufacturing. The greater price will naturally end up reflecting that. Valve can't afford to do the same loss leader model where the hardware is cheaper and the software sales make up for it.

They never revealed the manufacturing cost of the Steam Deck beyond Gabe's statement that the initial price they were selling the Steam Deck at was "painful". I think they'd keep a similar approach here with a low initial order of 1 or 2 million units all with the intent to sell a bit below cost. The major issue like you mentioned is that their cost would be higher than whatever Sony or Nintendo are paying due to scale and strategic partnerships.

I think Gabe and crew would be happy selling a couple million units a year and just seeing where things go, sort of like what's happened with the Steam Deck. I don't think they'd advertise heavily just like they haven't really done so with the Steam Deck. I also don't think they'd target specific specs to compete with Playstation, but rather just create something that's cost efficient which may or may not be at the same power level. In other words, I think they'll set out to do their own thing and not explicitly be a competitor to Playstation the way that Xbox has been. Their success or lack of success will largely be determined by how many people are in the market for what it uniquely offers. If that market is larger than what most here believe it is than it could end up taking away some mindshare from Sony and Nintendo.

 

[firegamer273]

No .. you are if you believe they can succeed. Wait? They have done it before and failed, they are also doing it now with Steamdeck and failing miserabley

your profile pic suits you .

 

[Bry0]

So wait, is the source of this really that valve added rdna4 support to the mesa driver or something? This is a nothing burger

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

I didn’t know that. Interesting. Tom Hendo is legit so that gives this guy cred.

Yeah I dont think Tom would work with him if the guy was full of shit imo

 

[Parazels]

Why does everyone expect it to be a AAA powerhouse?

They can release an affordable device between Series S and Series X with more powerful CPU. Why not?

 

[KeplerL2]

A steam console may happen in the future but this specific story is nonsense.

 

[Topher]

Why does everyone expect it to be a AAA powerhouse?

They can release an affordable device between Series S and Series X with more powerful CPU. Why not?

Needs to be at least as powerful as the XSX, I would think. Being designed for the living room means a lot of 4K TVs.

 

[Drew1440]

SteamDeck still has the issue with many AA/AAA games not being released or ported to the Linux platform directly, so they are still reliant on Microsoft's DirectX API. If a console helps change that, it can only be a good thing. Third-party launchers will also interfere with the console experience.

 

[Topher]

SteamDeck still has the issue with many AA/AAA games not being released or ported to the Linux platform directly, so they are still reliant on Microsoft's DirectX API. If a console helps change that, it can only be a good thing. Third-party launchers will also interfere with the console experience.

I'm not sure that is going to change since Proton does most of the work for the developers.

 

[Generic]

Should we include Nintendo in this initiative?

Yes.

 

[Ebrietas]

Could see this coming from a mile away. There will be an army of SteamOS consoles in the near future, portable and stationary.

Good luck Sony, you are going to need it. You absolute imbeciles.

 

[Miyazaki’s Slave]

All part of Mr. Newell's master plan?

 

[PixelatedBeast]

Okay, its FAFO season....let Valve develop a console, and watch a Sony respond and adapt like they have with Xbox. Microsoft is a trillion dollar company and was still forced to tuck their tails and bend the knee to lick their wounds. People underestimate the ramification this could bring. A quick Google search says Steam only made 10 Billion last year....I dont think Valve would be able to compete with Playstation either if Sony decided to start going after more 3rd party deals that would cut them out like they did to Xbox. Think Black Myth Wukong, Phantom Blade 0, or Fromsoft( who they aready tried to purchase) games as examples of IPs being exclusive to Sony that would make Playstation the defacto device for the action adventure genre. They could corner the market on a new growing region while still benefiting from full price game retail sales from 3rd party publishing partners like Epic. Besides Sony, I think only Tencent is investing in new gaming markets.

Sony could go big, and evolve their Ps Plus Premuim tier to add cross Pc functionality so that people who buy games through PSN wont have to double dip through Steam to play games at a higher graphical setting. Effectively cutting out the middle man, while simutaneously solving their issue of proving a service that would entice PC gamers to pay for subcription, and still believe they are getting free online gaming. With the looming price increase on PC parts from tarriffs, and the expected improvements from their own AI upscaling tech, they can still maket the PS6 as a high end gaming device atlernative to people who cant afford high end gaming PCs...... like the 70-80% of gamers who play on low to mid range PCs through Steam now.

Things are going to get very interesting....

 

[HogIsland]

I would love a box around the PS5/XSX spec and price with SteamOS that hooked up to my TV to play my Steam library on.

I want it very much, but it's gotta be more powerful than the PS5 at this point. Unless they found a way to sell it for $400.

 

[HogIsland]

Valve's main Steam Deck engineer already came very close to confirming a Steam console. At CES, PCWorld asked him about a Steam set-top box, and he said "I'd love to see it" and that "going beyond the handheld form factor is definitely part of our goals"

@5:55

 

[Guilty_AI]

I'm not sure that is going to change since Proton does most of the work for the developers.

Not to mention the translation layer often works better than the native ports

 

[Zacfoldor]

Valve copied Switch with the Steam Deck and they did it well.

I'm probably in. Valve is the only PC centric company I actually like and when I can afford it I try to own all the consoles. This is a console like, so it can probably find a home with me. That said it will need to be really good as well. I'm not 100% sure it will be.

 

[mayham2199]

Free online, semi open design, could be good, issue will be cost, as on pc value for money really isn’t there anymore, so unlikely but u never know,

No the issue will be SteamOS can't play a ton of the top played online games right now. Now if they have plans to fix that soon then that could change things. They are still missing some big sports games from their store but otherwise they could do well if they fix the anticheat.

 

[HogIsland]

No the issue will be SteamOS can't play a ton of the top played online games right now. Now if they have plans to fix that soon then that could change things. They are still missing some big sports games from their store but otherwise they could do well if they fix the anticheat.

Switch can't play most of the top online games right now either. Not that I don't want anticheat fixed, but it's not a fatal issue. There's a lot of major online games that do work, like Helldivers and Marvel Rivals.

 

[FMX]

Valve needs to stay in their lane. You guys act like the Steamdeck sold 50 million units. It's a niche product. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft will crush them if they try to enter the console market. Valve is not setup to take the hit like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can. That Steam OS has limitations as well.

 

[HogIsland]

Valve needs to stay in their lane. You guys act like the Steamdeck sold 50 million units. It's a niche product. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft will crush them if they try to enter the console market. Valve is not setup to take the hit like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can. That Steam OS has limitations as well.

if my steam deck was the only steam deck, it would still play thousands of games for the foreseeable future. why do i give a shit if it sold 50m units? what matters is the whole PC addressable gaming audience which is massive and global.

 

[Kacho]

Valve needs to stay in their lane. You guys act like the Steamdeck sold 50 million units. It's a niche product. Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft will crush them if they try to enter the console market. Valve is not setup to take the hit like Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft can. That Steam OS has limitations as well.

Valve is staying in their lane. They’re just giving PC players convenient options to play their games.

 

[Guardian Monkey]

Where's Half Life Alyx on PSVR 2?

Can’t you use this on pc?

 

[Soapbox Killer]

It makes some sense but for every pro, I can think of 2 cons. Also it all depends on what this "Xbox Prime" might be. Xbox might be in a firm 3rd place, 30 million Series XS sales is bad for them, it would be hard for any other "new guy" console to get even half of that. I adore my SteamDeck, we don't have hard sales numbers and I hazard to expect anything close moving the needle.

 

[HogIsland]

It makes some sense but for every pro, I can think of 2 cons. Also it all depends on what this "Xbox Prime" might be. Xbox might be in a firm 3rd place, 30 million Series XS sales is bad for them, it would be hard for any other "new guy" console to get even half of that. I adore my SteamDeck, we don't have hard sales numbers and I hazard to expect anything close moving the needle.

you didn't say one con despite claiming there's twice as many cons than pros.

 

[Fess]

Spoiler: no, it's not.

At most, they are probably working on a new iteration of the "Steam machines" concept, which is just another form factor for your PC, joining desktop systems and handheld (Steamdeck).
I doubt that their goal is to establish themselves as a "new console on the market" in direct competition with Sony and Nintendo.

?
Steam Deck is just like a handheld console.
If they do the same thing but a traditional box without screen that you connect to the TV it’ll be just like a console. Why wouldn’t it be?

 

[BennyBlanco]

It would be cool to get a SteamOs box to park under my TV in the living room and access all my Steam games. I would likely buy one.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It wouldn’t be a mass market device. They’re not gonna spend anything advertising it. It won’t be available at retail.

Unless they take on some other investors to partner with, which would fuck it all up anyway.

 

[Humdinger]

I'm a console peasant and not at all an expert, but I don't think Valve is trying to compete with Sony and Nintendo here. I think they are (or would be, if this is true) offering a niche product they hope might lure some console gamers into the Steam marketplace. Which personally, I find kind of appealing.

Apparently, Steam doesn't have most of the big GaaS games. I didn't realize that. I'm sure that would be a significant hurdle to making strides in the console market. But as I say, I don't think that's what Valve is up to. They're just looking to lure some innocent console peasants like me into the back of their white van. (ok, weird analogy)

 

[HogIsland]

It would be cool to get a SteamOs box to park under my TV in the living room and access all my Steam games. I would likely buy one.

But let’s not kid ourselves. It wouldn’t be a mass market device. They’re not gonna spend anything advertising it. It won’t be available at retail.

Unless they take on some other investors to partner with, which would fuck it all up anyway.

This premise that anything Valve makes is a failure if it's not "a mass market device" is applying the broken mentality of the console war to PC gaming. These are just more gaming PCs in the space. There's a Valve console yeah. There's an ASUS one, Lenovo, Dell, even Microsoft. It's all adding to one big pool of gamers buying games. That's awesome about it, not a weakness.

 

[Sentenza]

?
Steam Deck is just like a handheld console.
If they do the same thing but a traditional box without screen that you connect to the TV it’ll be just like a console. Why wouldn’t it be?

??
It's literally a portable handheld PC. I would know, since I have one.
You can even shut down the "Steam" UI, plug in keyboard, mouse and monitor and use it as a literal desktop PC.

 

[mayham2199]

Switch can't play most of the top online games right now either. Not that I don't want anticheat fixed, but it's not a fatal issue. There's a lot of major online games that do work, like Helldivers and Marvel Rivals.

I believe it is a fatal issue. To really compete you have to get the casual and you aren't going to get casual like without that anti-cheat fix.

 

[BennyBlanco]

This premise that anything Valve makes is a failure if it's not "a mass market device" is applying the broken mentality of the console war to PC gaming. These are just more gaming PCs in the space. There's a Valve console yeah. There's an ASUS one, Lenovo, Dell, even Microsoft. It's all adding to one big pool of gamers buying games. That's awesome about it, not a weakness.

Yeah I agree. I’m just saying it won’t be competing with Sony and Nintendo. They’re not gonna run super bowl ads advertising it or rent space in Times Square.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

you didn't say one con despite claiming there's twice as many cons than pros.

You're right I didn't.

Pro. Competition is health for the consumer
Con. Apple, Google and Amazon tried and I haven't one seen thread on Amazon Luna in 3 years.
Con. It might take a full generation to muscle into the Console Mindshare with any significant headway that might be better served staying in the lane they already are in.

Pro. Steamdeck is a solid console-ish device
Con. Presuming they make a device that is basically a more powerful, screenless DECK, it wont be console enough. Too many options and possible incompatible issues that in my experience console players are NOT in lock step with. The world has gotten much better with the mailable tech options but giving the layman options on a console that will possibly brick the system sounds very much troublesome. People still want insert disc / Download game / make profile / press start. (this is a fixable issue)
Con .Major Retail (which should be the name of the guy that gives you your onboarding briefing at Walmart ) is losing space faster than a dad with teenagers loses hair. There has never been a console /gaming sevice to hit mass market without Major retail support. Is there room for a new 3rd or a possible 4th contender at walmart/ best buy/ Gamestop? Not sure.


Not all of them but it's the ones I have time to type out now.