Oh Valve... Why do you do this?
In November of 2015, Valve will be releasing their 'Steam Machines', which will use a dedicated operating system dubbed 'Steam OS' (very creative). There are several different versions of the Steam Machines that will become available from many vendors.
I believe the concept of the Steam Machines is an excellent one. For people to be able to buy a pre-built PC that is small and pretty to look at, no modification or shenanigans involved. Just plug in, download and play some games, with the occasional firmware update.
However, Valve have turned this all into so much of a fiasco for several reasons. One of them being because they're Steam Machines.
Machines.
Machinessssssssss.
This whole concept would work if there was one dedicated box that the average consumer could buy for a reasonable price and then just play some games. But when you give people choice the decision becomes infinitely harder. The consumer now has to decide WHAT Steam Machine to purchase, but will it be the right one? Will I be able to run all my games? Do I have to modify? As we know, PC modification is vital to your PC being timeless, unlike the laptops.
Meanwhile they forget about Steam Machines, buy themselves a PS4/Xbox One and call it a day.
No PC builder in their right mind would buy this thing. The only reason anyone would buy this is if they wanted a LAN box. But even then, you would get so much more for your money if you just built a cheap, small form factor PC instead. Not to mention it will have far superior cooling, but that's a whole other can of worms.
This should have been aimed squarely at console gamers. Consoles are great because they're easy. You buy a game, stick it in and it'll work (most of the time).
The next problem is the sheer scaling of the Steam Machine's prices. They haven't been quoted in GBR yet, but the lowest end goes for $480 (which I believe is approximately the same price as a console). It has reasonable specs. All the way up to $5000.
$5000 for a gaming PC. Valve, are you serious? Who's going to buy this?
This specific product, by the way (called the Falcon Northwest Tiki) claims it can be upgraded! Console gamers do not upgrade! They buy a system and expect it to work.
You could buy the highest end hardware and put it in a PC for less than $5000. It's ridiculous, it doesn't make any sense.
The approach that Valve are taking with the Steam Machine, along with the whole paid modding scenario, is really starting to make me lose faith. They have the biggest digital distribution platform in the world!
Come on, Valve. You're smarter than this.
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