Steam Machine... Nobody Knows Who It's For

[music] Okay, so big news from Valve. We've been talking about the C machine prior and they finally announced pricing. Unfortunately, it's the worst scenario. It's over $1,000. So, [laughter] I've been reading a lot of reviews and the titles are all pretty funny to me actually where Tom's Guide even has things like, "Even Valve is disappointed by this. [laughter] Yeah, because I think like when we go back to when we first discussed the Steam Machine when it was first announced, it was kind of between a rock and a hard place where OG Steam Machines like way back in the day, they were DOA because of pricing and because Steam OS meant that they couldn't play the big games. This unfortunately is repeating a lot of that same problem, right? Like the pricing is still over a,000 bucks is does not compete with PS5 and Xbox. Steam OS now significantly better coverage of games, but still is blocked

from major titles. Anything off Steam, things like Roblox, Valerant, Fortnite, GTA 6 will not play on this machine at launch.
I thought they had a Windows license on this so that they would be able to play it.
Is technically possible to install Windows manually and get it dual booted over to that system. You can make that work,
right? But Steam OS doesn't work for anti-che games. It doesn't work for off steam games like like Fortnite. And Digital Foundry actually has a really solid video going into the specifics. The TLDDR here is like this is basically a mid-range PC equivalent. Like you can build a PC for roughly the same price, about a,000 bucks. This is equalish to the PS5, maybe a little bit lower in terms of the base edition, because you're ending up at about 1440p on a lot of these titles, not 4K on optimized settings. And the biggest issue for the future remains VRAMm. And I think the bigger issue for me is number one, this

will not play GTA 6 at launch. And then you're looking at like nextG is getting announced next year, 2027, PS6, next Xbox. Like what's the actual window that people want to buy this thing? Because by next year, you're already going to be looking at maybe PS6 and the next Xbox are going to be over a,000 bucks because of RAM crisis. But still now you're set up for the future with their offering versus this is already back to 2025's PS5 base. So unfortunately this will be one for just incremental sales for the Steam dedicated hardcore audiences and likely not one to get much Steam players to buy over a new PC. And I think really the real plan here is that Steam is starting to offer now Steam OS on AMD and they're trying to open up Nvidia. So, they're just allowing people to choose between Windows and Steam OS on their normal gaming PCs.
I think actually the good news here is that like this device will be more

compatible, right? Cuz you know the Steam Deck is compatible with like 20% of g the revenue generating games on PC. It's like it's crazy like how limited that device is. At least this has the capability of running more games. And the actual reviews are relatively positive. I think I think everyone wants this to be successful cuz Steam is such a a beloved company and so the device itself seems capable although I it basically said that the setup process was aing horrendous like launch but they should fix a lot of that stuff but the bad news here is that like we were talking about this ages ago like I think we were 800 to a,000 right and this is now a,000 to 1250 right it's like so it's like incrementally a lot more right but this is a non-starter for 99.9% % of the overall gaming audience. I mean, this is an absurd price on its surface, right? And it makes much more sense just to buy a PC, you know, like a at Best Buy, right? And again, I said it it was a pain in the ass to set up, too. And

and PC would probably be easier in this case.
Keep in mind the price, too, doesn't include a controller.
So, you still [ __ ] I didn't know.
And this is like the base unit, too. Like base unit, no controllers.
Yeah. Like base unit, which is comparable PS5 Pro without a controller. like PS5 base is just still way better option. This could be great news for Microsoft and Sony really because people have to understand they benefit from a huge manufacturing process, right? So they make 20 million PS5s like the Steam this machine they're making maybe 200k if that, right? I mean it's like a really low number and that's why it sells out and it seems like there's demand but there is no demand for this thing. So these volume discounts are real and they actually negotiate pricing on RAM and everything other component that they make. So in essence, that's why Microsoft and Sony will be more competitive on the hardware pricing always because Steam, first of all, is not going to make enough and they're also not going to subsidize. So I think, you know, until the BRAM [ __ ] is solved,

right, I don't think we'll see another Xbox or PlayStation, right? Honestly, but keep in mind that even with all the BRAM pricing issues, they only raised the price for Sony by 50 bucks, right? Not 300 that the Steam Machine did, right? And so anyway, so the best deal in town is buying a console, right? So that's what you should be doing. Like GTA around the corner, you're not buying a $1,200 piece of Steam Machine piece of [ __ ] Steam Machine that's not even going to run GTA. You're going to buy a PlayStation, you know? You're certainly not buying an Xbox. So you're buying a PlayStation. So the customer's choice is really obvious, right? And so I think that's actually good for the business fundamentally.
I like that silver lining that the the positive fear is all Sony. [laughter]
Yeah. buy PlayStation.
Great. Thank you,
dude. That's the best deal in the world right now. There we go.
I'm going to put my product marketing hat on. I don't know who this is for. I don't I mean, I know, you know, maybe they didn't do any kind of market fit analysis or, you know, understanding of customer wants and needs and where does

this fit. And I especially at this price point, which I mean, let's be honest, none of us, they didn't plan to have the ramp apocalypse happen. And I'm sure they were like, "Well, at, you know, 7800 bucks, maybe we're okay." I just don't know what the need state is. I don't know who this is for because if you're a Steam player, you already got a really nice rig at home. You've already got your Steam like, so I want to sit on my couch and do this versus at my really cool gaming setup. Um, I
So, just to
Yeah,
I do have my rig connected to my TV and it's awesome to be able to play 4K 120 Hz high-end games, all that kind of stuff, but it's on my own gaming rig that I bought. And one thing that will get me eventually is that maybe I'll convert to Steam OS given Steam OS is just a lot more efficient of an operating system compared to Windows.
Okay, so
I know who this is for. This is for
5% Ethan's going to get this. Ethan and Adam. So,
yeah.
Yeah. All right. So, there's like 2,000

of you. I don't know.
But so, even the enthusiasts, they will buy a rig like I did.
They'll buy a proper big ass PC.
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