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gaming Steam Machine: Will it Be Successful?


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So after all of this talk, the first generation of Steam Machines are finally hitting the market and will be available commercially at GameStop and Game (in the UK). With all of this coming in Nevember (next month), the hype for Steam Machines has definitely declined. About a year or so ago when the steam machines were announced, the platform was far more interesting to a lot of PC users, and now it has become somewhat of a joke to many. The hopes that these devices will "bridge the gap" between console and PC have diminished significantly. Does this mean the system will fail? No, however it does mean it has a difficult road ahead of it.

 

In my opinion though: the Steam Machines are a flop. The fact that people who were previously excited are now no longer even interested in the devices is evidence enough that expectations have not been met. However the Steam Machine suffers from many inherent problems:

 

  • There are too many. Console gamers which is their audience (mostly), want a device that they know will be relevant for a substantial amount of time. They don't know which one to get because they don't want to dump $450+ on something that may be irrelevant in 2 years.
  • Prices are too high. With the cheapest Steam machine being $450 and some of these devices being around $5,000 it's clear that in terms of competitive pricing, consoles have little to worry about.
  • SteamOS is a handicap. A Linux based OS is basically going to be very limited on what PC games it can play natively. While streaming will be possible, that will require a gaming PC.
  • The controller is crap. Many people have already expressed they intend to use a PS4 or Xbox One controller and I kind of feel that at that point when you NEED to rely on third party hardware then you are not doing a great job.
  • Steam's (as much as I love them) customer service is trash. Valve themselves has admitted their customer service is terrible.
  • There are cheaper ways to play your PC games on your TV. Hell if I recall the Xbox One is getting a feature to stream your Windows 10 PCs to the Xbox One at some point. HDMI cables to your PC exist and small towers exist.
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Yeah, there's no way this thing isn't gonna bomb. There are too many Steambox's not to mention they're all more expensive than the competing platforms, including PC. And like you've said, hype and interest for the platforms have gone down significantly, especially once they revealed the controller, the multiple machines and the prices

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It is a device that I really do not see a purpose too. I mean, for the price that they are asking, you could probably build a decent PC anyways. Being a console gamer, all I see in this device is that it is a PC that looks like a console and it can immediately hook up to my TV. For $450 at the cheapest, I don't see the point. I would rather get an Xbox One, though that is what I game on primarily anyways. :P This thing and the other 'console-PCs' just seem rather odd. I don't know who their target audience is. PC gamers? They already have PC's. Console gamers? They already have consoles. 

  • Brohoof 1
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I think it's going to fail hard because of the reasons OP already listed. I have heard a lot of people talk about it but I haven't met a single person who says they're interested in getting one.

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They're essentially pre-built PCs running on SteamOS. Some of them seem to be pretty decent, the cheaper ones usually have an i3 and a GTX 960. As PCs, they seem good for the price, but as a console, consumers comparing the XBone, PS4 and Alienware Steam Machine are likely to dismiss it due to the price being $100 more, (even though you don't have to play to play online and pay less for games) and then the prices skyrocket from there all the way to $5,000!

 

The thing that bother me most about them is that I can get the same parts as each of them (apart from the custom cases) and have my very own Steam Machine a couple of weeks before they're released.

 

As far as the controller though, I would love to try it. I have think it will be more precise than a controller, but maybe not quite on-par with the tried-and-true keyboard 'n mouse.

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They're essentially pre-built PCs running on SteamOS. Some of them seem to be pretty decent, the cheaper ones usually have an i3 and a GTX 960. As PCs, they seem good for the price, but as a console, consumers comparing the XBone, PS4 and Alienware Steam Machine are likely to dismiss it due to the price being $100 more, (even though you don't have to play to play online and pay less for games) and then the prices skyrocket from there all the way to $5,000!

 

The thing that bother me most about them is that I can get the same parts as each of them (apart from the custom cases) and have my very own Steam Machine a couple of weeks before they're released.

 

As far as the controller though, I would love to try it. I have think it will be more precise than a controller, but maybe not quite on-par with the tried-and-true keyboard 'n mouse.

Yeah but even with PSN factored in, I am still at $400 (new PS4 are dropping to $350) which is $50 cheaper. That could be a game or another controller. Not to mention even the Alienware machine is going to require a gaming PC to play all the games. It's basically like buying a more expensive PS4 that can only play some of the PS4 library until you buy a gaming PC.

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The Steam machines are PCs.

 

I think you may be thinking of the Steam Link, which only acts as a receiver to your TV if you have your PC connected to one monitor, but want to play on a bigger screen without having to move the PC. The Nvidia shield does a similar thing.

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The Steam machines are PCs.

 

I think you may be thinking of the Steam Link, which only acts as a receiver to your TV if you have your PC connected to one monitor, but want to play on a bigger screen without having to move the PC. The Nvidia shield does a similar thing.

Steam Machines will rely on Steam Link for any game not supported on its Linux based OS.

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I am old enough to remember Betamax (they went out of business before 1/2 (or more) of all bronies were born).  They are competing w PS4 & Xbox.  If they can't get their bottom of the line price down to the same level, they are going to be out of business in a year or less & it doesn't matter how good their system is, they aren't going to make it if they cost 30% more than the competition.

 

The only good I see coming is that the idiot they call Head of Sales will likely get fired for allowing this. 

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I am old enough to remember Betamax (they went out of business before 1/2 (or more) of all bronies were born).  They are competing w PS4 & Xbox.  If they can't get their bottom of the line price down to the same level, they are going to be out of business in a year or less & it doesn't matter how good their system is, they aren't going to make it if they cost 30% more than the competition.

 

The only good I see coming is that the idiot they call Head of Sales will likely get fired for allowing this. 

Errrr while I do think these devices will flop, this will not be even a remote threat to Valve's business as a whole. Valve makes far too much revenue for this failure to even remotely harm them. And their head of sales would be Gabe Newell, the CEO of the company, so I doubt he's going to fire himself. Valve is known to be able to bounce back from mistakes pretty easily. I think the more likely scenario is they will silently brush this under the rug and pretend it never happened.

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It seems a bit pointless, Steam users love steam because of the flexibility using a PC provides, plus you can easily plug up a PC to a TV and controller already, so I doubt it will haul in any PC gamers.

  Console gamers are comfortable with existing brands to will most likely not give it a second glance.

I know you can build your own Steam machine, but wouldn’t the effort and money be better invested in building a regular desktop.

Finally lots of Steam games need a keyboard and mouse(Strategy games etc ) and most PC players prefer a mouse for shooting games.

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