WYP
News Guru
Don't expect Valve's Steam Machine to have console-like pricing.
Read more about Valve's Steam Machine pricing plans.
Why Valve's Steam Machine can't be "subsidized"
- Thread starter WYP
- Start date
Read more about Valve's Steam Machine pricing plans.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Poor argument imo. Even if 10% of the people who buy this don't use Steam at all, valve would still make far beyond any loss those users give them.
Add on to the fact that it's Linux based. The average user(aka not enthusiast) would definitely not be able to use it long term.
Valve can do whatever they want but it's just plain and simple we want to make money. They have no incentive to grow Steam. It's already making insane money and continues to grow naturally. No reason to sell at a loss
Add on to the fact that it's Linux based. The average user(aka not enthusiast) would definitely not be able to use it long term.
Valve can do whatever they want but it's just plain and simple we want to make money. They have no incentive to grow Steam. It's already making insane money and continues to grow naturally. No reason to sell at a loss
WYP
News Guru
Exactly, there is no incentive for them to sell at a loss. It just incentivises people to buy it because of its low price and to use the device for other purposes. People would try to abuse the device's low price, and those users would just generate losses for Valve.
It would be like if PlayStation decided to let users install Windows on a PS5. The PS5 is a very cheap device for what it is. If Sony did that, a lot of folks would buy it and use it as a cheap PC, and Sony would not generate revenues from PS Plus or Games. While Sony probably doesn't make a loss on its hardware ATM, its margins will be thin. Without follow-on revenue, Sony has no reason to support other OSes.
Valve doesn't need to sell the Steam Machine at a loss to grow market share. They just need a good device with good features. Subsidising the hardware only has downsides for Valve. While they could take the loss, why would they? They aren't releasing the Steam Machine to be generous.
The good that will come from the Steam Machine is how it will show Windows to be the mess that it currently is. If that forces Windows to be better, great. If not, Linux gaming will grow.
NeverBackDown
AMD Enthusiast
Yes the future of Steam is in software. Selling hardware is just an avenue for them to showcase their software.
If they can grow SteamOS into a basic gaming OS, it'll be a success. It'll be free(presumably see no reason for it not to be) and provided it plays games without much hiccup, doesn't bog down overtime, can browse the Internet, and has a simple file structure UI(window users would struggle in the complexity some Linux distros can get), it would blow up in popularity.
It's really not asking for a whole lot. The bar is pretty low.
If they can grow SteamOS into a basic gaming OS, it'll be a success. It'll be free(presumably see no reason for it not to be) and provided it plays games without much hiccup, doesn't bog down overtime, can browse the Internet, and has a simple file structure UI(window users would struggle in the complexity some Linux distros can get), it would blow up in popularity.
It's really not asking for a whole lot. The bar is pretty low.
