Topic: Steam Machine price? Cheap methinks!

I'm really struggling to understand for whom this machine is. Like, I was super exited at first, but the more I think of it, the less I understand the point of this device at the supposed price range. It's ugly, so it won't look good on a TV shelf. It will not run the newest games (or it will but in potato mode).
I mean, why bother really if you can just buy a PS5 or a Switch 2?

On paper, it's probably for me. I haven't had a gaming PC for years, but I have a Steam library over 20 years old with Windows games I'd like to replay. I spend plenty on gaming and don't have any desire to mess with Windows or any PC-related performance nonsense. I'd be perfectly happy with a little box I can plug into my TV that will play my old Steam games...yet it's still completely baffling to me as presented, and I'm not interested in buying it.

I think it's just going to depend heavily on the price. A market for a "cheap", gaming capable pre-built certainly seems logical to me. I have friends still stuck on consoles, who'd like to get into PC gaming, be it for VR, Mods, or just being able to play multiplayer with me where there's no cross play, but the barrier to entry is too much.

If this is a polished experience with a "console like" price, I know a few people who would be very interested. I'm in Canada, so anything that's sub $1000 Canadian will be competitive with building any type of reasonable new PC from scratch. Even if you could beat the price by $100-200 by building it yourself, many many people will happily pay that premium for a completed solution.

So yeah, I guess it just depends.

Edit: All that being said though, I'm actually pessimistic that this will be a terribly good value. But one can hope.

I understand that, and I think the "impulse buy" machine you can buy for $199 at your local electronics store would be great for that. But this is supposed to be an $800 machine. That's almost 4060 gaming laptop territory. And you can still buy an entry-level Steam Deck for $319 that will run those old games just fine. (HL2 runs at 4K60 on mine) You can plug it into your TV. And, If you want to play StarCraft III in bed, you can take it with you.

Okay, let's be serious. Playing 20 year old PC games on a gamepad is anything but fun.

Even with this form factor I don't believe it will be a console-like experience because it will play PC games. Even with SteamOS, it's still a PC. With all the pros and cons.

Let me tell you my story. I have a 7800X3D/4080S/64GB SFF PC. It's really small, FormD T1 case, so it's a bit bigger than a Series X.
I have it plugged into my TV and running SteamOS in Big Picture, all that. I played on it pretty much exclusively until Death Stranding 2 came out. Then, I dusted off my PS5, and... I fell in love with how easy it was to play on it ! Man, I hadn't realized how much I was missing playing on a console. No settings, no driver issues, nothing. Just take your pad and start playing.

Of course, my PC is Windows 11-based, so the Steam Machine will be much better, but you'll still need to check the settings for every game to have a decent experience. It's a PC, and unless Valve ships 50 million of these, no one will bother creating curated settings for their games.

Oh I agree, I was only comparing to consoles for a hopeful price point, not in any other regard. It's still a very different thing than a console (which is exactly why I think a couple of my friends would like it, assuming the price is attractive).

https://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/s/wTub3Wvxj3

hmmm

Ehh.. they’re under clear instructions not to talk about price yet.

What are they supposed to do with a Linus in that situation? Wink and shoot him a couple of finger guns?

@Spodlude Oh you're living in the olden days my friend. It's £499 now 🫣

Was listening to a MrMattyPlays video on YouTube called "Valve Is DOING IT?! - Half Life 3 & Steam Machine Update..." and it's another one that states that the Steam Deck controller does not come bundled with the Steam Machine.

Heard this on several US videos now, is this confirmed? Obvs there'll be a bundle with it, but could be that lowest cost Steam Machine is prices sans controller.

Valve's Lawrence Yang and Pierre-Loup Griffais appeared on the Friends Per Second podcast, saying it will be "more in line with what you might expect from [the] current PC market" and Griffais said "I think that if you build a PC from parts, and get to the same level of performance, that's the general price window we aim to be at".

I think this is the key to the pricing — If people are finding that one can build the similar spec PC parts for $500, then that's the likely price.

Seen multiple sources that say the SKUs are the two storage sizes plus with or without Steam Controller.

So the "price" is the lowest price for smallest storage Steam Machine without a controller.

I’ve been trying to put together a mini itx build with similar spec for under £600 and you just can’t! That’s before you factor in the steam controller and the amazingly small and apparently quiet form factor.

For me this is the perfect indie game / emulation box to sit by my tv. It’s also perfect for getting my kids off Xbox games pass and onto Steam.

I’ll be happy if it comes in under £650.

After hearing the discussion on the DF Weekly show, I think it will end up costing over 700 USD.

@Hustler_One And if so then I can't imagine the audience for it is very big. It won't have the initial value of a console nor the hardware customisation of a 'proper' PC. With it's fairly weak GPU it also won't be very future-proofed so you won't be getting a good experience in newer, more demanding titles.

Still, it's a neat little box and I'm sure Valve will be selling it for a profit. Other partners can produce more powerful versions if the reaction is good.