What Valve would need to do to make a Steam Console a success
What Valve would need to do to make a Steam Console a success
While the most recent rumour of a Steam Console was complete junk, it did get me thinking on what Valve would need to do to make a Steam Console / Steam Machine actually successful.
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make the big picture ui not lag, swtch, ps4, 3ds, 360 did not have laggy menus at launch (but got worse over time)
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make the on screen keyboard have a ctrl key
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release a steam controller 2, desktop mode from the couch is nearly impossible to navigade with a controller if they want the htpc market
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Steam Deck is a pretty big success.
Can they actually move their experience over to a new living room box thoug
I don't really see the need.
Valve is tied to the PC, which means that they don't have everything written to a single hardware platform, and their platform isn't locked down.
If you want a Steam console, get yourself an HTPC case, put whatever parts you want in it, throw some controllers on it, set Steam to autostart, and set Steam to use Big Picture Mode.
There is one company that makes Playstations. There is one company that makes XBoxes. There are zillions of companies that make Steam gaming systems.
I agree Valve should do all of this, but realistically I think only the controller (and the price) really makes or breaks the Steam Machine. It needs to be just good enough, and it needs to be available.
I want four good controllers to play some couch co-op out of my SteamDeck Library, so I need to not hear that there's a waiting list for controllers.
I don't necessarily need a whole new era of advanced gaming, and I suspect putting crazy nice hardware inside would be a mistake (if it drives the price sky high). Valve can afford to let PlayStation continue to own the high end graphics market, and let Xbox continue to rule over the game of the month club.
Valve just needs to support my never quite getting around to playing all of my impulse-buy indie games, on my TV set and surround sound speakers.
And yeah, if they release a beefier model in about 3 years, I'll probably upgrade.
Pricing. It'll just be a beefier displayless. Same games, higher settings. Pricing and availability.
I'd love expanded steam ecosystem:
- steam OS console
- steam controller 2
- vr headset that plugs into console and can function standalone
- steamdeck 2
Would instantly but everything as my gaming on steamdeck is really great.
The biggest reason the Steam Machines failed is that they were Linux based and could not run Windows games. Valve addressed this problem by creating Proton and making it easy to use.
Honestly, I don't see a revived attempt at Steam Machines working unless they're really cheap. Unlike the handheld market, the console and PC market is much more saturated and you have a lot more options.
I mean I'd say the Steam Deck has been super successful, I fail to see any reason a desktop machine couldn't be successful for the same reasons...?
I've built many gaming PCs in the past but tbh I don't have any desire to do so as an aging adult now. I'll pay extra for a worthy prebuild, especially if it's moves Linux forward - that's incredible.
Ironically I don't think kernel module AC was as big of an issue back then as it is now. It's sad to see games like Battlefield, GTAO and Apex pull the rug out from under.
Yes these games are almost always bad, but they have huge audiences. If a traditional, stationary console can't play them, I worry about how broad their appeal would be against incumbents.
I'm hoping valve can push back on this once more.
Imo, 4060ti performance in a 600 to 800 dollar box running a amd Apu with 16 to 32 gb of shared ram. That's all they need.