Valve Software’s Steam platform has become the go-to source for gamers focused on the PC. With a huge catalog, constant sales and a consumer-first attitude, the digital store for games has exploded. As of the beginning of 2014, it had topped 75 million users.
But can that success translate into the living room and hardware, two arenas Valve has yet to conquer?
Valve’s first round of officially branded Steam Machines will roll out from several manufacturers beginning on Nov. 10. Before that happens, Polygon was able to go hands-on with Alienware’s version of the Steam Machine, which comes packed with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, a custom-built Nvidia GeForce GTX card and 8 GB of RAM. We also got to test out Steam’s unique new controller.
I ordered a Steam Link (without controller) which should arrive any day now. I’ve heard nothing but praise for Steam’s streaming, so I’m excited to try it out.
As a consumer, it’s hard to justify an investment on Steam Machines, specially considering that most of the AAA games won’t even run on it. As a GNU/Linux user, I hope that keeps changing, because more titles are being ported over or developed with GNU/Linux support in mind.
Having said that, Steam Link looks really nice. I already have a powerful computer, so why not use it, hidden? For casual games, which is the great majority, Steam streaming works great.
Look where we were just two years ago. Now you can have lots of fun with Linux games (nearly 1600 games)
If you don’t play on Linux no amount of complaining will change anything.
Just steam stats that more people play on Linux and more sales for Linux games will change anything PERIOD
Don’t worry, I’m part of the 1%.
I’m a hardcore DRM-free fan (games and grandfathered-in things I haven’t managed to evict yet (BIOS and firmware, nVidia drivers, Flash, Dropbox, and Upwork’s time-tracking client) are the only things even allowed to be closed-source on my system), so I’m not that interested in Steam itself, but I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on whether it’s worthwhile to get a Steam Controller to experiment with, sans-Steam.
(I’m a UI/UX specialist and I collect input devices.)
Edited 2015-10-16 13:16 UTC
Those who buy DRM-free only, use GOG.
Regarding Steam Machines, I wonder if manufacturers would be interested in connecting more distributors with them, i.e. not just Valve’s Steam, but also GOG, HB and etc.
It would benefit them more than Valve, but it would benefit users as well. That could be in stark contrast with incumbent consoles from MS and Sony, which combine manufacturer, publisher and distributor in one inseparable walled garden.
Hopefully more competition from Steam Machines could also disrupt current stagnated console market, where hardware is updated once in 8 years and expected to be low end to maintain very low price. Steam Machines can cause hardware level to rise and to be refreshed more frequently like in competitive desktop and mobile markets.
Edited 2015-10-16 13:46 UTC
You’re ignoring the significant advantages of Steam-only.
Steam offers high-quality multiplayer session management, DRM (lots of them want DRM, remember), achievements, chat integration, etc.
If you go with Gog too, you have to reinvent all this.
This might change when Gog’s ‘Galaxy’ client is finished, but even then it won’t be ‘Steam compatible’: there will be a development cost in using it compared to just always using Steam.
Releasing on one distributor only reduces reach and potential for sales, so stronger competition (i.e. growing GOG) will make exclusive releases not attractive. Developers wouldn’t want to lose a chunk of their sales by limiting them to one distributor only.
About Steamworks lock-in – that can be an issue (and I encountered it more than once when developers couldn’t release on GOG or delayed releases because of that). But again, in more competitive environment developers will take care to avoid lock-in to maximize their profit.
Edited 2015-10-16 18:22 UTC
You realize a “Steam Machine” is just a pc with at least a minimum performance requirement…right? Also, the vast majority of console gamers don’t give two sh*ts about their consoles being walled gardens. Gamers couldn’t care less if their systems are open-source or closed-source. As long as the AAA titles keep flowing, they’re happy. And the only way to compete with the main console makers is to have AAA titles of your own.
On another note… I wonder how many people with a boner for “Steam Machines” were also declaring the pc dead. Would be interesting to go back to previous posts and see.
Personally I’m not that interested in Steam Machines themselves, I’m OK with my regular high end PC for Linux gaming. But Valve deserves credit for pushing Linux gaming in general through that effort. And as I said, if they’ll manage to disrupt current stagnated console market, it would benefit everyone, because currently there is a lot of negative effects caused by very long and lazy upgrade cycle of incumbent consoles.
Edited 2015-10-16 18:26 UTC
Console makers don’t set out to make a killing on the hardware, they make it through the software. Nobody expects (or wants) new hardware every two years like they do cellphones. Console game sales have been consistently in the $20-25 billion range for that last 10 years. That being the case, I’m not sure what you think is stagnated with the console market. It’s alive, well, and raking in truckloads of cash.
I don’t see trouble in gaming. High-end pcs service those who want the newest hardware and have the disposable money to spend on it. Consoles service those who want to spend less investment for a system, and then only worry about buying games from then on. The idea of upgradeable consoles seems like a solution looking for a problem somewhere inbetween consoles and high-end gaming pcs.
It’s cool they’re trying to push for more Linux gaming though. More and better games for Linux can only help. Without that a lot of people won’t even give Linux a second look. Or a first look for that matter.
Again, that’s what MS and Sony like you to think, because that’s what they offer. But it’s not what could happen if competition was stronger. And that’s what’s hopefully going to change now with Steam Machines.
Consoles really aren’t about the low / high end – that has nothing to do with their idea. Their main idea is high usability and controller style gaming. That’s all there is to it. There is no inherent requirements for them to be low end and cheap.
Edited 2015-10-16 20:07 UTC
Not quite. For maximum penetration consoles have to be at a price point that agrees with what the Average Joe is willing to spend. You can not accomplish that without making compromise. If it’s not affordable, people won’t buy it. It doesn’t matter how usable a console is if nobody is buying it.
Steam Machines are nothing more than small footprint pcs with gaming capability. They follow the pc gaming model and are certainly more pc-like than console-like. I don’t think any of the big console makers have much to worry about when it comes to Steam Machines until (and if) Steam Machines prove to be competition to the console gaming market.
Mobile handsets have very high penetration. They have a whole range of devices from cheap to very expensive. Nothing prevents consoles from doing the same, except for lack of competition.
Current console status quo is not a console gaming model. It’s what Sony and MS made it to be. I.e. it’s not a natural thing, but situation caused by low competition. That was my point exactly.
Edited 2015-10-18 04:36 UTC
First, let’s not forget that Sega and Nintendo have also been big players in the creation of the console market and business model. If consoles are stagnated and there’s this big problem with hardware not being up-to-date enough, how has it managed to consistently be a $20-$25 billion dollar a year market? People willingly buy consoles for entertainment purposes. The sales of consoles and associated games proves the market is solid.
What I don’t hear, see, or read anywhere is an outcry from the console gamer community that the hardware isn’t updated often enough and that there isn’t enough competition to choose from. The one thing you seem to be missing is the most important part. Console gamers only care about the games — not the hardware, not how much competition is in the market… simply the games. Hardware specs are fun to compare but they don’t equate to quality or fun games, and the buck stops there.
Brainwashing works. You hear it form developers however, who know the limitations it imposes on them for very long time. Personally I hope this will change for the better because of Steam Machines. This insane 8 year update cycle should be retired for good. Then the whole gaming industry will start being more up to speed with current technology.
Edited 2015-10-18 22:45 UTC
Brainwashing? Come on, that’s as ridiculous as the religious nuts saying “because God” when they don’t have a real answer.
PC gaming is not direct competition for console gaming, therefore “Steam Machine” gaming (AKA PC gaming in a smaller footprint) is not either. I will say it again, console gamers don’t expect or want a platform that requires more frequent upgrading (aka cost). They want good hardware as a base from which to build solid entertaining games on. Whether or not the hardware is the latest in technology is not a priority. It’s not that the entire console community is brainwashed, it’s that you seem disconnected from what they actually want. I say that as a console gamer.
When this topic surely resurfaces in the future at some point, we can look at the current market conditions at that time and see who was more on the money. I’m stating right now that Steam Machine pcs are not going to make a dent in the console market. In the best case scenario they may actually advance Linux gaming – possibly even to the point where it’s no longer a complete joke. But, even then Linux gaming will still lag far far behind Windows gaming.
It is, if you count how many games are cross platform. And there are a lot. Developers want to maximize profits, so they release for PC OSes and consoles. And that’s exactly where the problem lies. PC hardware is refreshed normally, while consoles lag behind. Which causes developers to use them as the low common level for their performance expectations (i.e. degrading games potential).
If Steam Machines will disrupt this stagnation, such issue will be non existent.
Edited 2015-10-19 01:15 UTC
The console market is alive and well. Steam Machine PC gaming won’t have any measurable impact on it. It won’t have any real impact on PC gaming either. Linux gaming may see a much needed boost from the Steam Machine but Linux gaming will still only be a tiny sliver of the gaming pie.
You’ve got my prediction. It’s been recorded for future reference. Let’s wait and see who’s on the money.
That’s exactly the root of the issue. If consoles lag behind PC by many years, then such porting step (in either direction) is very hard without compromising a lot of features and quality. So getting rid of the lag will improve games in general.
Edited 2015-10-19 15:03 UTC
So you think that by trying to force consoles to be more pc-like, it will boost pc game quality? Gaming is a massive industry but there’s no question about it that console and mobile reigns supreme. PC gaming, while still huge, is in a distant third. Steam Machine PC gaming has no chance of changing that. If there’s been any marketing brainwashing going on, it’s that “Steam Machines” are anything more than a PC game system with a new sticker on the side.
Reducing the hardware upgrade cycle will improve games potential. Or to rephrase it – it will reduce artificial limitations caused by outdated hardware.
It will also ease developers’ burden. I.e. instead of worrying about insane level of optimization imposed by outdated hardware they’ll worry about improving games in general.
Again, that what can happen, but for that Steam Machines (or any other strong competitor) should disrupt current stagnation. Whether they’ll succeed – time will tell.
Edited 2015-10-19 20:18 UTC
I built my own steam machine using windows 10 instead of linux. What I did was replace explorer.exe with steam.exe for the shell, so it boots right up into steam and as a added bonus none of the windows 10 crapware like cortana load.
It’s also great that Valve is getting so many games and publishers to have their titles work on Linux. In the future I may switch over to SteamOS instead which will probably happen as windows 10 activation is a PITA.
I can say I would never buy another console after using the steam big picture mode for the last couple of months, works great and lets me decide on my hardware not Sony or Microsoft.
In case anyone wants to see my steam machine build it’s here: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/t9m8TW
I have it hooked up to the family room 65 inch LCD and it’s great, the ITX case looks like a subwoofer and fits right into the entertainment center.
Been doing this for years now – cool isn’t it? Your case is pretty big though but if you’re ok with it, that’s all that matters. The only system I have these days that’s bigger than a shoe box at most is my main server and main desktop/workstation. Everything else is small and out-of-sight.
Thanks. I actually had it in a much smaller silverstone FTZ01 case and didn’t like it, and it got rather hot in the entertainment center. I really like the Rosewill Neutron and it works great sitting on the floor next to the entertainment center.
I don’t think of Steam as consumer first, profit first rather. DRM is certainly not consumer first, nor is auto-starting their client, pushing offers for other games, or the abysmal customer support; and if you were to cancel your account due to such things you lose the ability to run those games in which you have already purchased (which I guess is just more of the DRM).
It is anti-consumer by it’s very nature.
Well, not really steam does have a offline mode, you just don’t get any updates to the newer titles that are still getting updates, but you could put it in offline mode and continue to use the games you have purchased.
Steam does have DRM, but they do it in a fairly decent way.
Overall I am very pleased with Steam and its DRM is far less intrusive than Sony’s is.
I’m a bit less pleased with Steam forcing you to update games before you can play them as some game updates removed functionality or fundamentally changed the dynamics (which then requires DLC to ‘undo’). For example: a GTA SA update which removed some radio tracks, and Payday 2’s recent update that made weapons unbalanced and weak and then added microtransactions to upgrade them again.
Doesn’t the XBONE and PS4 also force the updates on you?
One of the things about steam is it gives you a console “like” experience on a PC. I’m ok with it.
Their DRM proliferation surely is bad. But their effort to promote Linux gaming and especially push to replace OpenGL with modern open APIs (Vulkan and tools) is very good. So it’s a mixed bag. In practice I’m not using them at all because of DRM and buy games on GOG instead.
Edited 2015-10-16 20:11 UTC
There is some tweaking involved with a windows based steam box depending on the version of windows you use, for example, if you are on windows 10 you may have to set a game exes compatibility mode to windows 7, windows vista or XP.
I would imagine the linux based SteamOS does not have this problem.
Only reason I am running windows 10 on my home built steam machine is because some of the older games I like only run on windows.
Hopefully more and more games will run on Linux instead of Winblows.
TBH, I’m kind of over GOG as a Linux platform. I mean they’re really not bothering with Linux at all. Games like Wing Commander 1/2/3 which are just repackaged in Dosbox they haven’t even bothered to release on Linux which should take them 5 seconds to do. (I’ve been able to make those games run myself easily.) It’s been more than a year and of my collection maybe 4 out of 25 games are running on Linux from GOG. I can emulate/Dosbox a lot more of the games than what GOG is packaging. I use the service more as a legal way to grab DOS games so I can emulate them than as a real service with value-add. Don’t even get me started on games they’re just being plain lazy with. Privateer 2 and Wing Commander 4 have a dos version which would run fine in Dosbox under OSX/Linux but do they release it? Nope. Just Wing Commander 4 DVD edition (Windows only) and Privateer 2 Windows edition. Talk about lazy. Both of these games emulate fine in Dosbox. Hell they could even wine wrap those games at 0 cost, but do they bother? NOPE.
Edited 2015-10-20 23:18 UTC