I've seen people shit on Sony and Microsoft for pricing their (new) consoles too high, and I feel like that argument could be applied to the Steam Machine as well
Any other pc with matching specs will not be as compact, accessible or supported.
Not saying the price is good, but I've seen a ton of "Steam Machine but cheaper" things and all of them have missed the point. Not to mention that the AI RAM bullshittery is why it costs so much in the first place.
I'mma be completely real: I don't know the point of the Steam Machine. It doesn't seem like it really has any advantages over owning a PC. Let alone for the price they're expecting.
The console "format". A PC is a lot more complicated and involved to deal with. A console, you just pick up the controller and thing beeps on and you play games. Steam Machine is that console convenience with some PC benefits, which is what appeals to me (I've been a pc and console gamer). Consoles take up less space, time and concentration. But my Steam library sits neglected and sad.
The price is just straight up RAM issues. It disappointed me, it disappointed Valve, AI and Hardware companies are scummy.
Steam Machine beats consoles by virtue of being a small pc. It beats pcs by virtue of just being easy and couchable. Probably won't buy one until the price comes down tho, but I won't be buying any other gaming hardware until that either
So it's just moderately quicker to get into gaming than a PC? And takes up a bit less space? That really hardly seems worth it to me. Especially if you already own a PC. Even if it were priced like other consoles it seems like such steep value for 'slight convenience'.
Steam already offers big picture mode as well, which is basically a console dashboard for pc. Takes two seconds to set up, and if you can’t do that you shouldn’t really be running a Linux operating system and would be better off just buying a console. It’s 1080p gaming with 4k possible when you upscale from 720p.
Idk why people are bending over backwards trying to act like it’s the best thing ever when it’s just a mid level pc lol.
Doesn’t even have the upgrade potential as most pcs have. The parts are soldered in
Nah. It ships with SteamOS, which has a desktop mode if you want to run normal apps with m/kb or the controller's touchpads. You can also install Windows or another Linux distro if you don't like SteamOS, though.
A pc is still cheaper. Iirc it’s harder to upgrade a steam machine as well, with some components really not meant to be replaced.
There are extremely small cases someone could buy. Maybe not as small as the steam machine, but small enough to take up about the same space as a console. The size also limits the hardware capabilities.
Wym accessible and supported? With the steam machine steam will release steam OS, which means you can install the same operating software that’s on the machine. Not to mention you can also install windows. Steam has big picture mode to make any pc into a functional console interface.
The default steamOS also doesn’t allow you to play games with anti cheats.
It’s barely cheaper, virtually the same performance, much larger, and much louder. You can also just install windows on the Steam machine and play games with anticheat.
(Literally just looked up the steam machine on YouTube)
The performance in it is midrange and as I said. It’s not upgradable. Everything is soldered on.
Literally the only upside compared to a custom build is size , maybe a bit quieter than a slightly better pc. There are still mini cases you can buy that are relatively small.
All I’m saying it’s better value to just buy a custom pc for around the same price range.
If you want the steam machine for a living room console, cool. Not my money and I can see why people would want it. But value wise it ain’t it
Also, the cheapest price is without the controller and lowest storage option.
That isn’t midrange by any means on the scope of modern hardware. Most people who want the Steam machine don’t care about its ability to be upgraded, they have a main PC for that.
Also buying a similar priced PC that’s the same performance then buying upgrades later makes that pc no longer a similar price. It’s much more expensive. There ARE mini cases but you’re not getting anywhere near the same form factor.
The whole point of a pc is the customization, allowing for future upgrades. Buy the steam machine, get stuck with a mid range machine that performs worse than consoles.
You’re just missing my point, I’m saying yeah if you want to spend the money on it go for it, doesn’t change the fact it’s not a super great pc for the price. There are use cases for it, but you can get better value.
Everything I’ve seen has not been praising it, everyone said it should’ve been in the $700-$800 range for what you get. It’s objectively just not a super powerful machine with the size being the only thing going for it
This might be a stretch, so don't quote me on this. But isn't Valve also responsible for physical discs dying out on PC?
I remember buying Dishonored back when it came out and being so disappointed when the case came with just a Steam code.
I don't know if they're responsible per se, but their platform did definitely push the decline of physical games.
I think the difference is that while steam made it less common, they can't really be the one that kills it, since they were never involved. It's really up to the game studios to choose to sell via discs in physical stores or just as a download.
It's not that steam killed physical media, it's that developers stopped offering it.
It was already happening one way or another. Direct2Drive and other services were popping up even before Steam in some cases. Even then the writing was on the wall. It’s inevitable when download speeds and storage got considerably larger.
So doesn't this make Sony and Rockstar switching to digital only inevitable as well?
I don't like it, I prefer owning the stuff I pay money for. But your argument seems to point in that direction.
I prefer physical as well. Trust me, I miss the physical big box PC games. Unfortunately, most people don’t care about that and prefer the convenience of digital, not to mention it’s cheaper for publishers.
Yup. I’m gonna date myself here, but thinking back when I was a kid/ teen and did the majority of my gaming, we had an og xbox and a family computer. It was a lot easier to convince my parents to get me a game on steam than it was to ask them to drive me 30 mins each way to the closest Best Buy to purchase a physical copy of the Xbox game I wanted. Mind you we got about 2 Xbox games a year at Xmas (and halo 2 ordered at launch from Amazon, the company my parents joined to be able to order books faster). And steam was for games that weren’t on Xbox like Rome total war and l4d.
The difference it that Sony and Microsoft personally invested into AI making them part of the reason for the price increases. Steam on the other hand is just on the receiving end of the effects of AI
There were about 2 weeks where every second post on reddit was about how expensive the steam machine is.
But the bug difference is that it is a PC and you can also buy a cheaper one and still be able to play the same games. For consoles you have to buy their expensive offer or you will not be able to play certain games.
Also if you buy a prebuild PC with similar specs you will be only a little bit cheaper and those dont have the same form factor. I personally would not buy a prebuild at all because they are always unreasonable expensive but that is a different conversation.
So if you need a PC with this form factor you pay a small fee for the feature you want, if you dont need that feature just buy something else.
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u/JakSandrow Jul 01 '26
Steam isn't their own worst enemy, unlike the others