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Valve confirms Steam Machine will be priced ‘like a PC with the same level of performance’ (www.videogameschronicle.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/games@hexbear.net
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[–] 31 points 9 months ago (1 child)

Should have subsidised it as a loss leader. Valve could have sold the console for fuck all then made all their money with game sales. The console market is bigger than the PC market, they could effectively triple the size of their existing Steam sales just by taking over the market.

Very poor strategy tbh

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  • [–] 29 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    Because it's just a linux PC if they did that they would have to stop people buying them to use for general computing.

    It's not locked down like a PlayStation or whatever. A lot of the appeal of a steam deck is that it's just a computer with a convenient UI and peripherals, locking it down might have lost them more sales unless they really tried to become full on console providers, but then you're cut off from a lot of the OSS they use and in an arms race with hackers /shrug

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  • [–] 16 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Even PlayStation consoles have been used for mass general computing because it's cheaper hardware sold at a loss.

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago*

    On March 28, 2010, Sony announced it would be disabling the PS3's OtherOS feature, with the v3.21 update, due to security concerns.

    This caused the end of the PS3's common use for clustered computing

    Even when closed-source lets you do fun stuff, they soon stop you doggirl-gloom

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  • [–] 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

    Yeah, and that's bad strategy too.

    unless they really tried to become full on console providers

    Yes, that's what they should be doing.

    Nothing else matters in this industry, market share is everything. They need to cut into the market first, then they can chill out once established. Valve is not special in the eyes of console gamers, they do not have a brand outside of PC market.

    This is just a random ass box with no brand recognition, with no exclusives, with a high price for a console, and no selling points to the average person.

    It's not a serious competitor to Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft.

    PC owners will make it look like it's going to be big because they'll talk about it on the internet a lot, but those very PC owners talking about it have no reason to buy it. Meanwhile it offers nothing to the console market and isn't coming in with a business strategy designed to carve out market share or establish a brand that is unknown to this audience.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Idk and I don't really care but more locked down platforms that destroy customer rights and charge you for the privilege of using the internet connection you are charged for is like the last thing that anyone who enjoys video gaming needs.

    The steamdeck seems to have printed them money, they extract huge rents from almost everyone who wants to sell video games, l'm sure their money printer will continue to go brrrr buying more stupid vanity yatchs for a billionaire.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    I'm not saying it would be a good thing. I'm saying it would be a successful thing.

    This will not put a noticeable dent into the console market with this strategy. I don't even think it's intended to. The entire idea that they're even trying to compete with Nintendo/Sony/Microsoft with this looks like nonsense to me. I don't think they're trying to do that at all. Seems more like it's targeted at the PC market for people that want a living room system and already have a steam library.

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  • [–] 12 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Seems more like it's targeted at the PC market for people that want a living room system and already have a steam library.

    I thought that was obvious? That's definitely how they've presented it, it's also how the steamdeck was presented. I mean the whole thing of the steamdeck was like "do you have a giant backlog of stuff you don't play because the big noisy lightbox is inconvenient and isolating?"

    Sony alone is so deeply entrenched in Japan it may as well be a branch of the government. PC gaming is increasingly expensive and fringe with mobile gaming being the largest and most profitable area. The steam cube thing seems pretty clearly positioned as "Just plug it in and turn it on, congrats all your games now work with a controller on the couch" box.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah but half the internet, including some things posted to Hexbear, seems to think it's a real competitor. People are saying that this is good and will harken real competition back into the console market. That's not what this is at all.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago*

    The entire gaming industry right now is just Microsoft, gambling you can't win targetted at children, and Sony/Nintendo + developers joined at the hip.

    Like how the steamdeck inspired copycats it might breath some life into PC hardware, and reduce microsoft's stranglehold a bit/lifeboat some people fleeing windows but it's not like this will magically let you run sony/nintendo exclusives + your back catalogue, provide the game gamepass integration as xbox/windows, or move your friends and gamerbro expensive pixels.

    If anyone thinks that they probably don't grok how entrenched the big 3 are, they're part of people's identities and have like geopolitical influence lol.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago

    Oh I suppose also I think you might be underestimating how much they'd have to hire to go full console. Like the scale of manufacturing and the lack of tolerance for bugs and jank would conflict heavily with their style of frequent experimental software updates and developing compatibility layers.

    If the controls of some game on steamdeck are weird a PC gamer goes "yeah I'm playing a 2015 indie game on a handheld, let me see what I can tweak". A console gamer gets angry at being lied to (since consoles are supposed to be a polished experience).

    Most companies don't really survive massive hiring, given how much money they currently extract and the lack of public trading requiring infinite growth I can see why they might want to avoid that.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    They could calculate how many people would realistically change their operating system and not use steam after buying the steam machine. I'm sure a lot of people would not do that.

    They could get a lot more steam sales just by enabling more people to have steam compatible devices.

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