Hey guys,

We have another guy joining the home console videogame business and we clearly haven't talked much about it.
Valve will release the "Steambox" this year. As far as I know, this shall be a PC for the living room, connected to your TV. It won't run Windows, but Linux.

I really don't know how Valve wants to market this thing.
Is it a PC? can you upgrade it? --> If so, why not just connect your PC to the TV?
Is it a console? Is there any 1st party support? --> What does it offer to get market share from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo?

Without any evidence, I think Valve will have a hard time with their new device.
Here are my concerns:

- About zero 1st party support: As much as I like Valve games, they need a lot of time to release their stuff. And when it comes to big retail releases there are Left 4 Dead, Halflife and maybe Portal. Other than that they have a variety of downloadable games like CS:GO, which did not set the console world on fire. According to Wikipedia, there are 300 people working at Valve. To give you an indication how small that is: Turn 10 Studios, known for Forza Motorsport, has a team of 300 developers. 343 industries, known for Halo 4, has 300 people as well. UbiSoft Montreal, the guys behind Assassin's Creed, Watchdogs and Prince of Persia have 2.100 people working there. Valve has 300 employees. Combined. Development teams will only increase for next gen, so I don't see a lot of 1st party exclusives come from them

- No experience how to market a hardware device.

- Casual gamers hardly know them. I don't see any soccer mom picking up a steambox over a PS4 / Xbox 3 / Wii U. Especially when you think about their

- tiny marketing budget. How the hell do they want to go head to head with Sony and MS in 2013 when they release their new consoles in the already crowded holiday season? Valve is probably making lots of money with Steam, but overall they are very small compared to Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony.

- Their fanbase is the PC gaming fanbase and not the Steam fanbase. So I don't see a lot of their customers move over to a gaming console, because the retailer for their games decided to build one. They use steam because of the games, the deals and not because it is steam. They prefer the PC over a console no matter who builds it.

- Their current competition needs to be one of their biggest partners in the future. EA is building its own service that competes with steam from Valve. In order to have a successful 3rd party support, they just need EA. If their "Steambox" actually runs Steam, I doubt EA will change their mind and starts supporting it. And a console without Fifa, Madden or Battlefield 4 has a hard time.

- They will have even more problems in Japan than MS. PC Gaming is tiny in Japan, so Valve is a non-factor over there. It is an American company, which is not that awesome for them. Their few self-developed games have no impact on the Japanese market at all.

I think Valve needs to offer something very unique and special to succeed. Something I can't even think of now.
The steambox will not do well. That is my prediction and my very first Doooom thread.

Do you agree? Do you think Valve will own the market and revolutionise it?

I hope the S-Box can make gaming on Linux a more viable option.

How would you know, plus all of the big name publishers are putting their games on steam, So obviously  steam has alot of folowers.

I didn't know Valve only had a staff of 300. I would have figured like a 1000/1500 people.

OT:

I will judge the chances of the steambox when they release more information about it. I would have to agree with Kowenicki: If this fails in a very big way, it might take down Valve itself.

This doesnt stand a chance agianst the 360, PS3 and Wii U.

It is a pc which can't be upgraded and it will not run all the pc games. Sounds like a success!

if it makes it easier for their fans to play PC style than hell to the yea it will be HUGE.

I'd rather buy a PC and connect it to my TV.


Oh wait I already have. I'm pretty sure ,most of the audience for
This device already have something similar.

so it's for people who don't want the hassle of a PC but want to play most of the games from steam,surely it will have to have netflix and all that media stuff too,if it wants to get in the living room

If my PC wouldn't already stand next to my TV I might even consider buying a Steam box. If it manages to play recent games on high settings for under 400$, that is. I can't find any "real" reason to buy it, though. For my PC games I have a PC (like RTS and Ego-shooters), for everything else I have my WiiU+PS3.