
Valve Steam Machine selling very poorly - captaincrowbar
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/its-time-to-declare-valves-steam-machines-doa/
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Analemma_
I always thought Steam Machines were intended to be a hedge, if Microsoft
continued down the Windows 8 path of "make everything a Metro tablet app and
lock out Win32 games". Since Microsoft did a near-total 180 on that for
Windows 10, Steam Machines don't have much of a purpose anymore, but could
still be judged a success. You don't call a hedge "failed" if the bad scenario
never came to pass; it was good risk management.

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bryanlarsen
The important thing is that Linux games on Steam remain strong enough so that
publishers continue to port their games to Linux. I believe that is the case
(mostly because Unity makes this relatively easy, so it's worth it to chase
the 2%).

As long as Linux game support remains strong, Valve and game makers have a
lever on Microsoft, which is all they want. They don't care about Linux, they
just care about not being squeezed by Microsoft.

Steam Machine can die, but it can be quickly resurrected as long as the games
are there.

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Adaptive
Steam Link definitely undercuts sales. It's a great experience if you have a
steam pc in the house.

But steam box isn't dead. It's not like a console where the platform IS the
hardware. Steam's platform is... Steam. Valve can keep at this. Steam
compatible games are on the increase.

I think this is still toe in the water stuff for Valve.

Wait till Half Life 3 is a steam box exclusive. ;)

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asavadatti
Are people still excited for HL3? It has been so long that at this point I've
lost all interest. And this is coming from a huge fan of the HL series.

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mercer
I just played through Portal 1 and 2 in a sleepless weekend. I don't recall
the last time this happened, and it made me wish for HL3 all over again. To
you gamers out there: Is there any other experience like it that is playable
on my gaming-crippled two-year-old Macbook Air?

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dogma1138
It's not surprising tbh. Steam Machines are the worse gaming consumer item
that have been created in a long time.

The are worse than consoles as they are still as complicated than a PC gaming
setup or even more so if you choose to use the SteamOS option which is also
why most people opted in for the Windows Steam Machine or a dual boot one.

And unlike most gaming PC's the hardware for many of them is just pitiful at a
huge markup and considering you lose the highly optimized low level access
that consoles provide most of them cannot play modern games at 1080p@60 at
settings that are acceptable to PC gamers.

There isn't a single Steam Machine being promoted now which is even considered
an entry level gaming setup, and paying 1000$+ for a microATX box with a
GTX960 in it is not something that the crowed that knows what Steam is and
hence knows something about computer hardware will do. And the few that can be
configured with high end or even mid range graphics card cost more than your
average branded gaming PC still.

Valve really should've done something every simple and that's to have 3 bands
of Steam Machines at 500, 800 and 1200$ with more or less the same hardware
and each band should've been clearly marketed home-media / 720p light gaming
for the 500$ one, 1080 gaming for the 800$ one and 1080@60 gaming for the
1200$ one. They still would not be a wise consumer decision but at least they
won't be a 600$ with an Intel IGP in them marketed for gaming for people that
do not know better, that's just a scam.

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nix0n
According to [http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-steam-
machine/pd](http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-steam-machine/pd) the Alienware
Steam machines do have nVidia graphics and the $529 USD version has
comparable-ish stats for less money than my current custom build.

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dogma1138
The GPU is a "custom" low end mobile GPU similar to what is used in the
surface book it's performance is less than a gtx 950 (some what less than an
860m) there is a reason why they don't specify what GPU they are running.

I don't know what you have at home but you won't be running any major titles
at any playable settings on this poc.

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captaincrowbar
I tried to phrase the submission title neutrally; the article uses phrases
like "dead in the water", "utter lack of market demand", and "time to declare
Valve's Steam Machine DOA". Not entirely unfairly, I think; it seems pretty
clear now that the Steam Machine is a failed experiment.

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tracker1
As mentioned in tfa's comments, the Steam Link may be undercutting the Steam
Machines' sales... In any case, I think it was a decent experiment.

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baldfat
I think it isn't a failure. There are some big successes/

1) Give them leverage on Microsoft to not mess with PC Gaming Ecosystem?

2) Cross Platform more common - personally I am glad more and more games are
being made cross platform.

3) Steam Controller sold 500,000 units.

4) Linux has gotten a lot more visibility and GOG.com supports it.

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dogma1138
Most Steam Machines sold are running windows / dual boot.

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baldfat
Still doesn't change the gains as I presented.

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johnyzee
They should make one for VR. A certified Vive VR box that Just Works, with
great Steam integration.

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bisby
sells very poorly compared to xbox one and ps4 and pc.

in their current state (with missing ports and driver performance) that they
sold any is almost amazing.

As a linux gamer though, I'm appreciative that there are many games available
to play now because of their efforts though.

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zxcvcxz
1) Where do they advertise steam machines? Maybe they'd sell more if they
advertised a little

2) Wasn't vulcan supposed to help somehow? Vulcan is still in its infancy and
I'm guessing some big titles will come out later this year.

>less than half a million Steam Machines sold over a span of more than half a
year.

Doesn't sound too bad to me. Plus consoles in general are having worse sales
this year compared to the past.

