| Machiavellian said: Evidently this is Valve trying to distance themselves from reliance on MS. As long as the manufactures are not looking for big profits and Valve can secure more Linux games, they can make this a success but it will not be quick. One of the problems with this type of system is that it cannot compete with consoles because each manufacture needs to make a profit on the hardware. This limit the audience who would purchase one since there is nothing as of today that separate the Steam Machine from any other PC and so far it looks more limited. The good part about the steam machine is that its an open system that Valve can make and improve probably faster than the console makers on their product. The problem I see is that momentum is big for consumer products. I do not see how Valve is going to generate enough interest from PC gamers to invest in a steam machine and I really do not see it taking any decent chunk from the console crowd since price is big. The real problem with the Steam machine is that it sits in the middle and such products never really do well and only drain the resources of the company pushing it. |
The problem valve has is far greated that Linux gaming library. They will never beat Windows in terms of game library and support... even if they only release Half Life 3 for Stemabox exclusively. :)
They best they can hope is to be on par with Windows a few years from now for all new releases. However by the time they are on par, they will be well behind a 2 other ecosystems in terms of livingroom penetration. Apple iOS and Android are spreading like wildfire in terms of market penetration (smartphones, tablets, built in to TVs, dedicated handhelds and consoles...) and they already provide a TV ready experience that Steambox will never match. They are also cheaper, serve a wider range of use cases and have a games library that is growing fast.
