Steam Machine (aka, possibly the biggest video game announcement of the decade)

[CountVanBadger]

Steam just announced their followup to the Steam Deck, the Steam Machine.

Frankly, I'm hyped. It's going to be six times as powerful as the Steam Deck, meaning that while the Deck was somewhat limited in what games it could play, there won't be many titles this can't handle. I feel like this could be a major turning point in the console market. Xbox has pretty much already fallen out of the race, and Nintendo is going to be in trouble if the Switch 2 doesn't do the numbers they want. I think the big deciding factor is going to be the price. Steam hasn't said how much it will cost yet, just that they want it to be as affordable as possible. A lot of people think that since the Steam Deck sells for about $500, we'll be lucky if it costs as little as $1000. And since the Steam Machine is going to be six times more powerful than the Steam Deck, nobody could blame them for charging that much. But if they were to only charge in the $400 to $500 range, I think they could utterly annihilate the competition and turn the entire market upside down. I guess only time will tell. They say they want to launch in early 2026, so let's wait and see what happens.

What do you think? Is this going to be the monumental turning point I think it will be?

 

[Deleted member 167438]

I'm most excited for SteamOS. Hope it keeps expanding. We need a viable alternative for windows asap.

 

[Alski]

Considering that steam deck was released almost 4 years ago 6 times the power for $699 would be entirely reasonable.

 

[Racosharko]

Every thing I like are indie games that you can run on a toaster...

I like the idea of it... if there is any value in that... "like"

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

ten-fifteen years ago, I would have loved to have a machine like this.

Nowadays, I don't really care... I have so many games on steam that I own but barely played, I don't need to buy a box that lets me play even more games I wont play.

 

[PancakesWitch]

As a Switch 2 and PS5 owner, I couldnt care less

 

[CountVanBadger]

As a Switch 2 and PS5 owner, I couldnt care less

 

[PancakesWitch]

View attachment 42895

Unless they sell physical games I am not going to buy your glorified pc

 

[CountVanBadger]

Unless they sell physical games I am not going to buy your glorified pc

 

[BigBadBoi]

It will be a good way for potato PC people to play games. Especially if they only play in shitty laptops. Playing eroge on consoles would suck tho because you can't play with one hand.

 

[Arkus86]

"We have Steam Machine at home"

 

[RepresentingThree]

Unless they sell physical games I am not going to buy your glorified pc

You, uh, want it on a USB or something? Cause all "physical" video games are is some sort of digital storage device that holds your digital game. Don't get me wrong I completely understand the want to truly own something you buy. Anything else is frankly unnatural. Which unfortunately is the reality. Even if the game is sold on a disk or chip if it's an online game it will inevitably discontinue service. However, we could entertain the idea of only playing offline games. Only if it's a console you will probably need to update the game to get all of its content. After all, if you buy a physical version it won't be automatically on the newest version. Then some of your content is still digitally downloaded. Even after all that when the console gets discontinued, you may not even be able to play your game. I could go on but the point is no matter whether you buy a disk or a key it will it be both digital and impermanent. If you really want something to last as long as you can take care of it play Catan or something.

 

[Corty]

I just need the price now. Because probably it will cost an arm and a leg for me.

 

[AnonUnlimited]

As a PC owner... I might consider a steam machine when it's time to upgrade, depends on how much more adoption this takes. I own a Switch 2 and PS5 as well, but the PS5 is just collecting dust at this point.

 

[CountVanBadger]

I just need the price now. Because probably it will cost an arm and a leg for me.

I really feel like if Steam undercuts the other consoles and only charges $400-$500, it's entirely possible that they're going to destroy the competition so thoroughly that Nintendo will pull a Sega and have to stop making consoles and start releasing their games on their competitors' machines.

 

[Corty]

I really feel like if Steam undercuts the other consoles and only charges $400-$500, it's entirely possible that they're going to destroy the competition so thoroughly that Nintendo will pull a Sega and have to stop making consoles and start releasing their games on their competitors' machines.

Fat chance for Nintendo doing that

 

[Envylope]

Steam just keeps winning. If they can sell it for cheap then they will obliterate.

 

[Alski]

Fat chance for Nintendo doing that

They will just write it off as a loss and canabalise one of there other things.

 

[Corty]

They will just write it off as a loss and canabalise one of there other things.

They survived the Wii U. That company will be the future Arasaka

 

[Enkiari]

What do you think? Is this going to be the monumental turning point I think it will be?

No. I am purely a PC gamer and the hardware will be popular.
But not a monumental turning point at all. Valve won't be selling their machines in retail stores like Nintend-s(w)hit does. It won't reach the same popularity. Nowhere close.
The innovation will be nice, but that's not monumental in PC space. Maybe in VR space with 'Frame'.

Software, tho? Yeah, that quite possibly a be monumental tur ning point.