Whispers of the project have been doing the rounds for a while now, but last week Valve boss Gabe Newell gave the first confirmation that, yes, his studio had at one point been making a space game with the initials "SoB".
The price of Valve Corporation's recently announced Steam Machine will not be subsidized, the company has clarified.
Probably $500 to $600. So, pretty standard console pricing nowadays. And I think a lot of the costs will come from increased prices of chips and materials as it is and why they are not trying to make it compete with the PS5 Pro or the like. AI is really ruining the pricing of a lot of industries out there.
It'll likely be more than $600 if it isn't subsidized at all. Valve won't be producing a high volume of these things unless the demand is there.
Get ready for a 1k plus... what are you dreaming about. RAM prices doubled and tripled in some cases.
Demand for this is huge.
Valve can't ship 3 mill launch so ... increase price less demand.
You are dreaming for a $500.
And taxes also... and shipping... fragile.
Of course they would not sell it at a loss. That would be a very bad idea, because unlike consoles, this is not a closed system. People can buy the device and never spend a single dollar on Steam games. So Valve cannot count on making money later like console companies do.
The real question is if Valve is willing to make only a tiny profit, so the final price can stay low for buyers. But even that has limits. Estimatives on the parts inside it, make the device cost around 430 dollars. If we pretend those prices will not change soon, even though we already know memory is getting more expensive, and then add average shipping and handling, which is usually around 20 percent, we end up at about 520 dollars.
Now it all comes down to how much profit Valve wants to make. Currently, most estimates put that consoles hardware operate with around 20 percent profit. If Valve does the same, the price would be about 630 dollars. But if they follow the normal PC profit margins, which is around 35 percent, then we are looking at around 700 dollars.
At 630 dollars, it already becomes too expensive for people who might buy it just on impulse. At that point, it is more for fans who really want it. At 700 dollars, it would probably only appeal to the most dedicated fans.
In my opinion, the best price for something like this, if they want strong adoption, would be around 550 dollars at most. And obviously, the lower the better.
This is not an of course at all. The Steam Deck was sold at a loss, so of course it is logical to speculate that valve would do so again. If the price is reasonable I'll still buy one most likely, might do the unthinkable and dual boot it with windows and linux even though I prefer steam os.
Valve never claimed that they sold the Steam Deck at a loss. That was just speculation from people on the internet, and it honestly doesn’t hold up under scrutiny if you actually analyze the hardware itself. The much more likely situation is that Valve operated with razor-thin margins, particulary with the 64GB model, not that they subsidized the hardware.
And again, as I said, they could very well do something similar with the Steam Machines to bring the price down to the $500–$600 range. But subsidizing it? That makes no sense for a company like Valve to do.
Regardless of the price, it would be nice to have some standardized hardware for PC gaming that people can get, which will guarantee that games can run on it without players having to constantly worry about whether their setup meets the minimum spec requirements.
Yes, the issue is that you can't always trust the minimum requirements to give good performance, even though it should if using low settings or whatever those requirements are based on.
If playing a game, you usually want to be at least between minimum and recommend or above IMO, for the ideal experience anyway.
At the budget end of the scale the console is usually going to win, and in these days where hardware is more expensive especially so.
I think most modern hardware can hand most games on the market nowadays , I can't think of any modern game that would truly struggle . You might not get the full performance or graphics but same could be said about the base ps5 or S2 and they can play em just fine and especially since I believe modern hardware only renders what's on the screen with games built around ssd . Tech is just more efficient and less load baring then previous generations , it is almost to the point of plateauing and will just come down to gaming preference
huh thats not any different than how it now is. It will be that until games come out that exceed the specs. Devs arent gonna halt development on graphical improvements cause that thing is out and wait until the next "gen", you just want it to be a console basically.
So less powerful than base ps5 at maybe almost twice the price. Does Valve want this thing to sell or what?🫨?
I think the free online gaming, cheaper games via better steam sales, and access to a much bigger library of games definitely bring a lot of value, but only if it's $100-$200 more. Also important consider that there might be new consoles released in the next couple of years. This thing will have to drop in price significantly to be considered.
I say it'll be $600 bucks. I could be wrong, but I think that'll be the price.
The Steam Machine is equal to or better than around 70% of "what people have at home", according to Valve engineer, Yazan Aldehayyat.
It looks like the child of the Xbox Duke and the Atari Jaguar controller.
But as long as it’s as comfortable as the Steam Deck and the tech works as advertised (again, like the Steam Deck), it’ll probably end up being my main controller.
I hope they offer one without the controller so not everyone is forced to pay for one indirectly.
It still looks like it will be amazing to use despite not being pretty.
The track pads will be particularly useful.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of it either, take away the track pads and I'd like it, not a fan of them
We all have access to the Steam Hardware Survey, so we know it’s true. My only complaint is that the data is heavily tilted toward regions where PC gaming is strong but purchasing power isn’t, like South America, China, Russia and South Asia, where the Steam Deck (and any Valve hardware, for that matter) isn’t officially sold.
As long as Valve don't gimp their newer games because of this fairly low end steam machine I'm fine with it. People can hold onto 5-6+ year old hardware if they want but they shouldn't expect to run newer demanding games well or at all at that point if it's mid class hardware.
Don't forget Steam probably got a ton of survey results from some countries running some basic office PC and running some esports games or something.
IGN: Valve’s newest hardware aims to further bridge the gap between gaming PCs and consoles.
I am willing to get one to go allongside my PS5. This way I got all my bases covered. I hope they can surprise us and hit $549.
I'm hoping this pushes Microsoft to reveal, or at least tease, its Xbox PC at the Game Awards.
@VenomUK
I doubt it, This Steam announced came as a big surprise to all I feel. It's exactly what I imagine the future Xbox pc is going to be like. Steam clearly want SteamOS to become gamers choice of OS and obviously Microsoft are not going to want that to happen.
I feel if Microsoft where to reveal Xbox PC anytime soon. Unless it's dirt cheap it would hurt it if this Steam cube is £600 or less. Especially if other partners like Dell and HP for example make even more powerful steam cubes with steam OS for the same price as Xbox pc.
I'm sure MS will be tempted to tease something as a defensive move to sabotage the Steam Box as much as possible. Truth is that MS is screwed here - while a lot of people would be very happy with SteamOS user experience and integrated store, the same can NOT be said for the Xbox App being the main experience, like the ROG Ally X. All they could give would be empty promises.
This Steam Machine when it’s released will demonstrate what a modern PC can be, compact, fast start, quick resume, software profiles (probably) so there’s no having to fiddle with settings and Steam OS for productivity work. If Microsoft can offer the same but with a much higher spec, Xbox back compat, and dual operating systems then it could be a very exciting (premium) alternative. I do think MS will tease something sooner rather than later.
I’m still unsure about it, to be honest. Part of me is really tempted because the form factor is great. My living room setup is an ITX build, but it’s on the bigger side of that category since I’m using a Corsair 2000D. Performance-wise, it ends up pretty close to what Valve is offering with this new machine, since I’m running a Ryzen 5600X and an RTX 3060 Ti. So when I really think about it, it doesn’t feel like a meaningful upgrade, even though I genuinely love the design.
But if it comes at the $600 ~ $700 mark it will basically murder the MiniPC market out there.
Regarding the mini-PCs I think it's interesting how you COULD use this as a full fledged PC (just like the Steam Deck). Chrome, LibreOffice, etc. I'm not sure many additional customers they would get by marketing that fact.
@crazyCoconuts
If, and that’s a big if, they sell these things in brick and mortar stores, or at least don’t require a Steam account to buy the hardware, and also offer it without an OS for integrators, and it actually lands in that price range, I can see a lot of potential for it in the corporate market.
But I really doubt Valve is going down that route.
Be surprised at $900 and $1100.
Have you tried to build a mini PC?
This is crazy R&D cost and demand is huge.
Also expect delays.
Also expect scalpers and bots on the Steam page.
Also except defects with the machine and os for the first year.
Also... except SOLD OUT through the next year.
Also!
I honestly would get one if it would have replaced my main gaming PC but it doesn't look like it. I love the form factor as I have been building mini-itx pc's for years. I have been testing my 3d printing skills and trying to design a case.
My main gripe is I just wish it had more power but I understand the reasoning. My other 'personal' gripe is just that. Personal. I just don't game like I used to. I find myself doing more things around the house. I am working on solar projects. Trying to build/design a raised garden. Re-designing bathrooms, etc. I have said it before but I will probably never buy another console after the PS5/XSX generation, so my pc will have to do. I do love the things that Valve does though and I will keep an eye on it.
I would have loved to get one too but I need more power.
This is a great solution for those who want to get into PC gaming at entry level.
With minimal troubleshooting thanks to Steam OS.
I'll continue to build my own mini itx PCs.
I need just a little bit more power than is being offered here.
After all that work through your daily day... man really needs that 5090 for a half an hour... I get it./s
Just enjoy in what you have.
Get a project hp pc, install steam os on it and get a cheap Xbox controller.
There you go.
Agree with loving what Valve is doing - looking at their portfolio of devices now and how they integrate with each other - it's kinda the new Apple in a way. So slick and well thought-out, And the proton stuff to get all this running in Linux is a mix of genius and hard work - I love it.
This first Steam Box isn't for me either, but if they get SteamOS working well with an RTX3800 and can get BF6 anti-cheat to support them, my gaming PC will happily ditch Windows 10 for it.
8GB of VRAM is not a device built for the future. All I've seen from Valve is an under powered handheld, under powered PC and under powered VR headset and a controller that makes no ergonomic sense.
Yeah this isn't aimed at people looking for power.. it's a lower end device. It's a plug & play solution for clueless people or those who want simplicity I assume.
It's a small box so you're not going to get anything very powerful in it anyway because of cooling limitations. That said, the CPU is decent, the rest is lacking.
You can build a compact Mini ITX system but I'm not sure on Steam OS as I've never used it. Also I think Mini ITX is smaller than Micro ATX AFAIK, even though you'd think Micro would be the smallest.. either way though you also limit your self in regards to case space, size of CPU cooler, size of GPU, so you have to plan carefully if it's not a standard ATX case/mobo.
Yes, Mini ITX is the smallest form factor you can find for a consumer-grade x86 device. And SteamOS, while not officially available, can be run on pretty much any x86 PC as long as it’s fully AMD (CPU and GPU). There are some builds with support for Intel and Nvidia, but the overall experience is not as good.
But what people have to understand is that Mini ITX itself has a huge range of sizes in terms of the final build. The motherboard is standardized, but the cases are not. For example, I have one that I use as an HTPC, but it’s on the larger side at about 24L. To put that into perspective, the Steam Machine case is only 4L, while a standard ATX build (mid-tower) has around 45L.
And while you can definitely find ITX cases of that size, building in them is super tricky. Most are designed to use APUs exclusively, and the ones that support a discrete GPU have some very strict size limitations. So much so that for a build the size of the Steam Machine, you really can’t be that much more powerful. The vast majority of those cases only fit GPUs up to about 20 cm in length, which means you’re stuck with the RTX 4060 (which has two models meant for small ITX builds) or weaker cards. Even the closest GPU to the one in the Steam Machine, the AMD RX 7600, doesn’t have a model that would fit in most of those cases.
Of course, if you’re willing to go larger, you can fit a lot of different hardware and still technically have an “ITX build.” So honestly, I wouldn’t say the Steam Machine is ITX, it’s much closer to a mini-PC, which is non-standard but can go as low as 2L in some cases. The Atari VCS, for example, is around that 2L mark.
8 vram is unfortunately not enough.
im sure it has its merits for games that never left steam but ... i mean.
Under $1000 means it'll be around $1000. Faffing on with PC settings and being OCD with graphics, it's not for me.
In space, no one can hear you say Arrrrrr!
$50 says the protagonist had no dialogue. XXXD
We need a spaceflight sim this gen. I cant think of any. Something along the lines of Tie Fighter or Colony Wars.
Oh how I wish this was truly made.
How about making a new one?
IMO "I'm in space! Spaaaaaaaace!" is better title than SoB.