Steam Machines Are Nothing New And Unexciting

Valve has missed the entire point with Steam Machines. Set to release this November 10, Steam Machines feels old and unexciting even before it has been released

[ARESWARLORD]

Just you can build a better PC for the same money

[treacherous_gamer]

I believe this will help to popularize PC gaming on the big screen but the execution of the Steam Machines leave a lot to be desired

[Highlife]

The problem with steam machines are there is no incentive to sell them at a loss or very minimal profit. Sony Nintendo and ms can sell at a loss or low profit margin knowing they are going to get money off game sales and accessories. These companies that make steam machines won't see that so why bother. This would only work if valve made and sold one.

[frostypants]

Without exclusive AAA games, it won't popularize anything at all.

I mentioned in the other thread that it would take something along the lines of making Half Life 3 a LONG timed exclusive for real Steam Machines (i.e. denying it even to PCs running SteamOS). That's the only way this heap won't crash and burn spectacularly. But that would also create a lot of ill-will towards Valve and Steam. They've painted themselves into a corner.

[wakeNbake]

Yeah definitely not enough horsepower for the asking price.

[General Shrooms]

steam machines are marketed towards people who don't know how to build PCs, or at least don't want too.

[BiggerBoss]

That's who consoles are marketed towards, and Steam machines aren't gonna win that battle.

[ABizzel1]

Steam Machines was a great idea, with godawful execution.

First the biggest problem is that there are so many brands out there making, these, when Valve should have been the sole creator and distributor of their version of the Steam Machine. Valve didn't want to take the financial risk, so they let everyone dive in, but you can't do that in a hardware market that's already as competitive as the "console" market. There are Steam Machines all shapes, sizes, prices, etc... that no average consumer without any PC knowledge would ever go into a store and think of buying one when they see the 10 models on display and the 20 more online, when a PS4 / XBO / Wii U are branded clear as day.

The next issue is anyone who knows how to build a gaming PC, can build their own Steam Machine for less than almost everyone of these builds, which is ridiculous.

Those 2 things together leave Steam Machines with absolutely no audience to sell to, besides a PC gamer, looking for a micro PC, they can hook up to their HDTV, just to game on. And that's the definition of a niche market, and almost nonexistent.

If they wanted Steam Machine to succeed, Valve should have did it themselves, or at least partnered up with a low cost PC manufacturer, to produce a solid spec. machine that was geared towards the recommended spec range, and offer it at a price cheaper than most PC manufacturer's and gamers could make on their own, and release a new model every 2 / 3 years.

If they really wanted this to work out they could have had 3 simple and understandable models.

$249: APU system
$499: AMD / Intel system

That way they have a low end entry PC so console gamers can easily test the waters, and a higher end model that's aimed at the recommended PC specs for the majority of PC games.

[ABizzel1]

Was going to list a 3rd for $999, but at that point, you're better off building your own PC.

[frostypants]

The problem with that $249 APU system is that it could well be a useless turd within a year or two if devs don't dedicate themselves to optimizing games specifically for it. Which brings up an important issue: for the Steam Machine to work, devs need to approach it from a console-development mindset...not just toss over PC code and hope for the best. But what incentive would they have if the thing doesn't sell well? Valve needs to throw some money at some sort of software exclusivity to get some market mass, but I don't see that happening.

[ABizzel1]

@frostypants

But that's where the flexibility of a Steam Machine trumped a console.

The AMD A10-7850k / 7870k / 7890k, are very capable APUs. They're not on par with the PS4 or XBO, but they're still capable of playing any game those systems run as long as it's on low settings with low Anti Aliasing, so you're not missing out on any games, if you don't mind low settings.

Also these $249 APU SM's, are perfect for MOBA's and many MMO's and other less demanding games that millions of PC players play.

However, the reason the $249 price is important is simply because it's a much easier entry price to ask a console gamer to pay who's remotely interested in PC gaming, instead of $500 / $600 / $700 / $800 / etc... for a real high end gaming PC.

The last bonus for that $249 SM, is that unlike a console you can actually upgrade your Steam Machine, and they can market their own brand of GPU upgrades. So for $200 you can get a R9 380 / GTX 960, and turn that $249 APU system into the $499 system (with the downside of the having a APU for the CPU instead of a full FX 8300 or Intel i5). And that will play all games at much better settings than the PS4 / XBO. You could also use an off the shelf $150 R9 390, $100 R9 360, $100 GTX 750 Ti, all of which would turn that $250 APU system into a $350 - $400 very capable gaming PC, that often edges out what the consoles can do, with the freedom of choice in things like resolution and framerate.

I agree with the console-development mind, and that's why I feel Valve should do everything they can to make the developers make a Recommended Setting for all games (basically 60fps for the $499 console), and a Max settings (basically Ultra settings V-sync).

There is / was a lot of potential in Steam Machines, but Valve screwed it up, and at this point their DOA to all but the most niche PC gamers.

[frostypants]

"But that's where the flexibility of a Steam Machine trumped a console."

And that's where you just buy a PC.

This Steam Machine thing just isn't gonna work, man. The market rationale is too convoluted.

[ABizzel1]

I agree it's not going to work now, because there are way too many of them, and it's just stupid what Valve did with all these chefs in the kitchen.

But had it been a much simpler Valve and maybe iMachine partnership making the $249 / $499 models, then it would have been a much easier thing to market, and sell, and it would have found a niche market of a few million gamers, and possibly expand to several million.

It was never going to be a 50m console like seller IMO. But it had potential to make PC gamer more accessible, and it had the potential to make PC development more standardized if developers knew that these SM's had a decent amount of sells.

And just like any PC you can pop off the case, and pop in a GPU. Valve would have been wise to make the case simply snap and slide off, and push the GPU in as easy as old school gamers sliding in a cartridge, and boom you're off.

There could have been so much simplicity with this idea, but they've completely screwed it up on every front, that it's over before it even had a chance.

I'm not arguing about it, I 100% believe it's going to fail. I'm just saying it didn't have to, and had they aimed for simplicity it could have found some kind of success.

[Gotcha5]

Way too over priced and way too late?

[JasonKCK]

I agree but not everyone knows how to build a PC, or may not have time for it. It's for people who want something more than console and don't want to pay a premium for PC.

[Genuine-User]

That I can agree with. And that controller is horrendous.

[Satyre28]

I just never understood who would buy one of these. They are extremely overpriced for their specs, and lets be honest a Xbox One, or a PS4 for less money gives you the better experience. If you want a PC for gaming then build a PC for gaming, not one of these.

[Perjoss]

Someone who wants to get into PC gaming but has neither the know-how or the time to build their own machine perhaps? Same reason people buy expensive Alienware machines.

[Mega24]

" the time to build their own machine perhaps?" well, you can build a simple machine in under 20 minutes, so that's no excuse.

It's so easy to build PC's, people think it's complex and you have to solder and program... it's not, it's practically like legos.

The only part where people might have issues, would be CPU socket compatibility, and that's as easy as asking a question on Newegg or PCpartpicker.

[CrowbaitBob]

@Mega24

Sadly I think most people feel too intimidated just opening up a case, let alone actually putting the pieces together.

A lot of people find anything more than flipping on a switch to be too mentally challenging to be worth their time.

[frostypants]

So, what? 10 people? Those Alienware machines sell to people who want the ultimate gaming hardware available.

I don't think anyone is thinking "golly, I wish I could play PC games on low-to-mid settings, but without the ability to upgrade like on PC and without any console exclusives".

[Lennoxb63]

I think; and I may be wrong, that these are prepackaged PCs for people who don't know the ins and outs of building one. But want the power of a PC. Not having to worry about whether this or that is up to par with another component could be convenient for some.

[frostypants]

But the "power of the PC" here is about the power of a console, and without the utility of a PC or the ability to upgrade. It's really no different from buying one of those crappy budget PCs at Best Buy, but less useful.

[Lennoxb63]

I think there are more powerful models.

[SunnyZ]

I applaud them for their ambition.
But there are not that many good quality games that run on linux to warrant buying this machine.

I see it is a stepping stone to get PC gaming to the masses with 'ease', but they are missing a few of those stones...

[Doodleburger]

Newell is claiming the steam machines are better performers than consoles at the price point. What he fails to mention is that 95% of the games that are on all 3 platforms are very lazily ported to PC, and high performance hardware has to work 2-3x as hard to keep up to a console port, at 30 fps.

[Dynasty2021]

Old and unexciting before they're even released?

Kind of like console hardware then.

At least Valve are trying, instead of releasing the same crap year on year.