From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

[The thread... it lives again!]

If you've been waiting to get your hands on the new "Steam Machine",
the release date is now officially scheduled for "Summer 2026". There
were rumors that it might be pushed back to 2027 due to rising costs
and difficulty in Valve getting the hardware (you know, what with the
AI-bros scooping up all the CPUs and RAM), but Valve seems determined
to get at least a few machines into the market before the leaves start
changing colors.

The specs of the device, it seems, won't be much different from that
of the SteamDeck... or at least, if you want your game to be "Steam
Machine Verified"*, it's pretty much got the same requirements as with
the handheld unit. Which makes me wonder why anybody would want the SteamMachine and not just buy the SteamDeck and hook that up to the
TV? Same performance, but the latter is portable.

But I'm generally cynical about the whole "SteamMachine" to begin
with. It's not that I don't like the concept, but the product (or what
little we know about it) doesn't really seem to offer any real
benefits to end-users compared to other cheap non-Valve branded
computers, and some significant disadvantages (not least being it
doesn't run Windows, and a lack of upgradability).

The SteamMachine /might/ work if it's inexpensive enough... but Valve
has been very cagy about the price (and, in fact, there still isn't an
official price listed) except to say they won't be selling it at a
loss. And I just don't see a lot of draw to a >$1000 USD "PC-disguised-as-a-console" device.

Of course, just because the Steam Machine ships this summer doesn't
mean anyone will be able to get one. Valve has had inventory problems
with their SteamDeck and SteamController, with the few devices they
have been able to get selling out in mere hours. So for all these
reasons, I don't see SteamMachine taking off in any way that will
seriously affect the industry.

But I'll be happy to be proven wrong.







* a qualification that lets users know your game will run well on the SteamDeck. SteamMachine Verified would do the same for games on the SteamMachine.
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