Steam machines...

So I suppose it's over for them? Haven't heard about them in months and they haven't made a dent in the market. For all the praise Valve gets this one was a huge failure.

Seems so.

Steam link and controller are great though, both do exactly what they were designed to do.

Steam link was trash for me.

Controller is alright enough.

MS is announcing a Steam Machine on Sunday, it will be a 90 min presser.

The way Valve went about these things was genius, they created the idea and got all of these third party vendors to float the financial risk.

the flopped harder than vr

windows > steam os both with game library and game performance

I literally believe that no human being that exists now or has ever existed ever said this.

Valve fanboys did. Loyalist dedicated to their fat leader

I'm referring to outside of System Wars

lol nah.

Hermits thought it was a supremely dumb idea, even more so than console gamers did. Typical hermit response was - what's the point when you can just build a PC?

Just did a search as well, first thing I came up with was another (at the time) console gamer saying "Steam machines were supposed to destroy consoles". And another thread full of PC gamers laughing at that idea.

Gotta love SW and its revisionist history.

The hype and demand for Steam machines died very quick. So yea, its pretty much a dead platform. Haven't seen a thread or discussion on SM in ages anywhere.

PC gamers weren't gonna buy them to begin with. So that's pretty much Valve's entire consumer base. And Valve failed big time to convince consumers that they need a Steam Machine. Leaving consumers with no desire to spend hundreds of dollars on a Steam machine.

@ConanTheStoner: yeah, that's how I remember it too.

Maybe one or two disillusional people that ever believed in Steam machines killing consoles... Far from a general thing :p

They were essentially a prebuilt PC in a mini-ITX format.

Plenty of mini-ITX cases you can build from in that horizontal format.

This one is amazing.

Steam machines were shit. Closed off and limited platform. The beauty of a PC is that you can customize and use it however you like.

yeh it was more or less a gaming PC w/o the good stuff of PC, wonder why nobody wanted those

I always thought Steam Machines and Steam OS was stupid.

'hey guys awesome idea, you see that great hardware you have, how do you feel about limiting it to JUST games'. If you want to limit your choices of what you can do with your OWN hardware, buy a console.

To be honest, I feel the same way about the console argument of 'can you get a PC as powerful as a console for that price?'. NO, but I like to be able to run whatever I like on my PC. Fantastic console hardware, now install Cubase. 'bu bu for gaming' righhht, lets just narrow those goal posts.

the steam controller is great. in the end if thats the only thing to come out of the whole endeavour then it was still worth it. i much prefer to use a steam controller than a traditional controller.

pre built OEM boxes are also pretty much gone. that was always a long shot. OEMs are not like MS, sony or nintendo. they dont sell games. so they have to make a solid markup on the hardware itself. its very hard to compete with companies that can just undercut you like that. the reality is that not one single steambox could out PS4 the PS4 for similar money. to get a better experience you needed to spend more money and at that point why not just build a PC? many also used laptop parts so upgrading them was very limited. steam OS was also not ready for a formal release.

steam OS/linux gaming: personally im a big fan of the push to get more games on linux and i think its better for PC gaming if people have more choice in the OS they can play on. this is not dead either. its very much a work in progress. the fact thats its still a work in progress probably contributed to the steam box itself also tanking though. its still kinda of in a console dev kit like state. but things are getting better. the open source drivers have made huge strides in performance over the last year alone and more plans are in the pipeline to squeeze more performance out. more games now support mesa officially as a result and even steam OS uses them now for AMD hardware. valve, AMD and intel are all working on that now. the nvidia closed source driver has also always been pretty solid on linux. so i wouldnt say steam OS/linux gaming are dead. they are WIP and there is probably another at least 2 years to really get it into shape as a gaming OS. it does need more people buying and playing games on it (whether its the steam client on a linux distro or steam OS itself) though to get more publisher attention. its usage in % terms on steam is still tiny. but the will is there on the publisher/developer side.

Steam Machines were a hard sell in the first place (as people have mentioned, limited library, cost, recognition etc) but they never even had a chance with the way Valve rolled them out. The information section for each box told basically nothing important about them (eg "Nvidia GTX GPU instead of the model), Troubleshooting was completely left to the companies and the Steam Machines page itself wasn't even easily accessible. For a product supposedly aimed at console gamers, Valve completely failed to make it easy for consumers to know what they were buying.

They should have created like a tier system with examples of settings/performance in mainstream popular games a certain level of steam machine would get you, and advertised it more heavily. As it is seems like they decided to cut their losses even before launch.

@gordonfreeman: you should see the comments on the Steam Machine articles: There were many that stated that it was the end of consoles, due to Steam Machines.

Dislike the controller and dumped it for a loss.

nice +_+

Never was interested in them myself.

lol

I still remember the "death of consoles" bullcr4p

too funny ;D

Then you were in a hiatus, definitely

You guys are seriously gonna make me pull out the receipts here.

• Lack of support and marketing push from Valve.
• Windows already did everything they were trying to do anyway, plus BPM is shit

http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/11/06/valve-boss-gabe-newell-on-steam-machines-killing-off-consoles

http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/gaming/523049/Xbox-One-PS4-Vapour-PC-console-killer

https://www.gamespot.com/forums/system-wars-314159282/how-much-impact-could-the-steam-machines-have-on-c-31024788/

http://screenrobot.com/why-the-steam-machine-should-kill-off-consoles/

http://allthingsd.com/20130926/valves-steam-machines-wont-be-console-killers-but-heres-how-they-could-shake-up-gaming-anyway/

and that is only in the 1st page of google results

Sweet!

I was actually digging up my own links (have quite a few good ones), but your links actually proved my point. You should probably check them before posting next time, but thanks anyways lol.

---

Click bait articles in which PC gamers disagree in the comments - check.

A dumb GS thread in which PC gamers disagree - check.

And of course I was under the impression we were talking SW hermits here. In which case I can post at least a half dozen other threads coming up with the same results lol.

Thanks again though.

?

explain how they prove your point? The media was claiming the Steam machines would kill consoles or, the very least, have a major impact on the industry. It clearly didnt in any of those

heres another one

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/11/07/halo-5-pulls-map-and-steam-machines-killing-off-consoles-ign-daily-fix

Valve is confident Steam Machines will kill off consoles

and another one:

https://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/71372862?page=8

and here's another one

http://techreport.com/news/27927/a-peek-inside-zotac-console-killer-steam-machine

Sure, maybe most hermits didnt think they would kill, but the media clearly pushed for it

@Vatusus:

Cool, check my edit.

And yeah, media lol. You're acting as if the gaming media doesn't thrive off of click bait fanboy war articles.

As for the discussion going on in this thread, which had nothing to do with the media, yeah this is not something hermits were saying haha.

I always felt the idea was good, and it has given gaming for Linux a boost. controller was decent. as well

That tiny linux crowd and mac crowds still insist that they are better options than windows..

When in reality its simply not true.

Hence here we are again.

TBH I think in 2017... its just a joke at this point.

I dont think many people truly praise the man anymore.

Infact, I kinda dislike him... seems like abit of an ass.

Yep. I remember all the fanmen claiming it was the end of console and Windows gaming. LMAO.

HAHAHAHAHAH yes!

@tigerbalm:

I doubt it, But it's no doubt their vision.

Microsoft will likely execute it very well.

I can imagine Xbox consoles becoming the flagship console for Microsoft and OEMs can target the higher end, they'll likely run Windows 10 S or Home/Pro, with a Xbox UI that will play UWP games.

This is where Gaming PC'S, laptops can become a Xbox Console at choice.

The problem was an unfocused release model. The idea was to bring the PC experience to console gamers, in what should have been a simplified pre-packaged design to remove the build hassle and spec-mix that deters so many of them.

And then undermined that effort by releasing something like 12 different SKU's in prices ranging from $400 all the way as high as $3200. So not only making some that were way too expensive for the general consumer market, cost often being a major factor prohibiting that crowd from getting into PC gaming, but even defeating the simplicity with a convoluted model scheme that set an uneven performance scale, and creating the confusion of what system offered how much and at what cost.

It failed to differentiate from a typical PC retail market, thus not giving any reason for console gamers to try it out over their familiar and comfortable platform.

Flopped harder than Kinect and WiiU hah

Steam users can barely afford to have high end PCs and wait for sales on games, of corse this thing is dead.

@Juub1990: I'm not praising Valve much anymore. I'm not putting them down or insulting Valve by any means but they don't impress me anymore. Make some fvckin games. There is literally no excuse to not just come out and say "we will no longer make games" or just say "We will not make Half Life 3 ever"

I don't think the price ranges is what killed Steam Machines and SteamOS.

It was the lack of vision, because for Valve it was simply throwing things on the wall and seeing what sticks.

The concept of third party consoles is a great concept, however they didn't have a flagship hardware to show it off, (along with Linux problems etc)

MS is doing the same thing, however IMO it'll be different

1. Xbox will become the flagship hardware targeting low end
2. Scorpio will eventually become a Windows 10 Gaming PC-like device, running future UWP games from PC and Controller. A console that can run M&K and controller based games.
3. Xbox will eventually have a Gaming orientated PC-like UI along with current Console UI.
4. Will have devices running on Windows 10 S and Windows 10 Pro can be a PC, Console or laptop. All Will be able to run Controller and Mouse and keyboard games
5. Having a Xbox UI that will load UWP games.

For Valve the execution was wrong

I'm saying it's both the bloated pricing and SKU selections that drove business away. Again the point of the Steam Machine was to make PC gaming accessible by offering the simplicity and affordability appeal of console gaming - and then throwing that proposition aside by putting out this Frankenstein mess.

The price conflict actually correlates to the bloated sku selection; "High priced PC's" is what discourages that crowd from getting into PC gaming, mainly the prevailing myth that an Alienware is what it takes to make a PC gaming capable. So when Steam Machines were first glimpsed in these $400, $500, and $700 models, that didn't seem too bad for making the transition from the console to PC platform. But then there are these options for $900, $1200, $1500... and even as much as $3200, all under the SM brand lineup and similarly being marketed as the "out of the box ready to game" solution.

Suddenly those $400-700 systems don't seem as capable, at least in the eyes of the uninitiated when seeing these other more expensive models being branded the same way as the lower cost siblings - who were the target market for this in the first place. How do you explain to them the differences from such a wide disparity in price range, and why (or how) they would choose one over the other. The fact that this now requires an explanation undermines the goal of bringing console simplicity, and effectively returning perception back to the high priced PC. So it begs the question, what's even the point? What does the Steam Machine really offer to compel the console gamer to make the transition?

@MBirdy88: Remember @NoodleFighter? He praised the hell out of SteamOS and prominent of Linux gaming. Now he no longer shows his face here.

Actually I've just been burnt out on gaming and felt like I had nothing to add to most discussions lately so I've mostly just been lurking lately.

Sucks about SteamOS and Linux gaming though it did have potential that never got to be shown and executed properly.

LOL not

Wow, it only took one mention to bring you back? You can blame Valve for not pushing SteamOS enough or even their console hardware partners.

Buh! Buh! Buh! They were gonna kill off consoles! Bwahahahahaha!