Mastodawn

Daniel M Karlsson Nov 15

Phorm The Vixdjinn

I know a lot of folks have been going on about it, but Steam's latest hardware announcement has been utterly insane for the day and age in which we live.

Consider that they didn't hype it up with a launch event. They didn't sell a bunch of hype and buzzwords. All they did was release a ~6 minute video that effectively described the hardware and what it would provide, and had a webpage with *actual specs on it*.

They invited a bunch of tech reporters/YouTubers to their HQ, but they let them talk to *engineers*, not marketing people. The discussions focused on real capabilities of the hardware, and actual demonstrations. No vapor and promises. Not glitz and glam.

They made it clear this is all SteamOS driven, and that they have a focus of getting *existing x86 Windows software* running not only on Linux, but on ARM and in VR!!

They aren't pitching a closed ecosystem. They said, outright, "This is your hardware, you can do whatever you want with it".

THEY DIDN'T MENTION AI ONCE.

And they're _already_ making a bigger splash than any competitor ever did, even though those competitors have gobs more money they've thrown at this stuff, and tremendously more staff.

It's flabbergasting. I hope they make enough of an impact with all this that people sit up and take notice.

Phorm The Vixdjinn Nov 14

This one escaped containment, so I fear I have to mute the thread at this point! My apologies.

Panda Plenty 🔞 (Super Goddess)Nov 14

@Phorm reading Phorm being excited about no vapor...

ThatGenieProblem Nov 14

@foxysen @Phorm

Nice one! XD

V_Mags_Fox 🏳️‍⚧️:3 Nov 14

@ThatGenieProblem @foxysen @Phorm
Vapor, great for genie tails, bad for actual products.

Panda Plenty 🔞 (Super Goddess)Nov 14

@V_Mags_Fox @ThatGenieProblem @Phorm All my creative friends know that I excel at vaporware

Phorm The Vixdjinn Nov 14

A shocking development, I know!

V_Mags_Fox 🏳️‍⚧️:3 Nov 14

@Phorm Right? It’s what pc hardware announcements used to be.
“Hey, here’s some cool stuff. Here’s what it does and what’s in it. Have fun.”

Phorm The Vixdjinn Nov 14

I forgot how it used to be. Even the trade shows have become less about the tech and more about the glitz

Gracious Anthracite Nov 14

I wonder how badly Steam's gonna fall when Gabe retires and someone who is just there for the profit takes over.

Phorm The Vixdjinn Nov 14

Rumor is that his son is going to step in an maintain it as a private company, but yeah. Who knows. At some point someone will likely make an IPO and it'll go straight to shit.

@Phorm @anthracite I'm not so sure.

Generally people IPO because they want gobs of money.

Steam has already made Gaben into one of the, what, top 200 richest people to ever live?

ThatGenieProblem Nov 14

@anthracite @Phorm

Oh it's going to suck bad. But then again he's here for now and modern medecine is (rather unfortunately) pretty good at keeping billionaires alive...

DefinitelyNotRabbit Nov 14

@anthracite @Phorm
Yup yup
Its the valve enlightened dictatorship, while the enlightened monarch reigns, things are fab but we should rightfully fear the day the 'good' monarch is gone and is replaced

Infrapink (he/his/him)Nov 14

@anthracite @Phorm

New guy: "All right, let's see how we can make money!"
Assistant: "{Sir, Ma'am, Captain}, we're currently making millions of dollars per employee per year and we don't have to give any of that to shareholders.
New guy: "Oh. OK then. Carry on."

Julie Sqveakaroo Nov 14

@Phorm I sincerely wish I had known this was coming a month ago... it would have likely changed purchase decisions of past-me.

Phorm The Vixdjinn Nov 14

@JulieSqveakaroo

Well, I guess at least we don't know when in 2026 it gets here? There's some time yet. I hope.

But yeah, pretty sudden announcement, and pretty big price tags

Julie Sqveakaroo Nov 14

@Phorm I have not yet seen the prices...

䷰ Xīn Jīn Mèng 新金梦 Nov 14

Missing Xmas is a big deal. But really, everything about these toys sounds good and fun. I am excited to be excited again.

Damage control kobold Nov 14

Yep. It's almost like they just want to make a good hardware product so they can keep their digital distribution infinite money printer going.

potion_genderfluid

@Phorm I always say "corporations aren't your friends*, but Valve treats its consumers with a minimum of respect and that makes them one of the best companies in the industry. They are not perfect, but they do not actively try to screw its user base, and that has to count for something

｢AD-808-7870｣

@EnaWasHere @Phorm Helps that they are a private company and don't have to answer to their investors, which makes them free to do whatever they want. And of what they want is to make us happy, there's not a single wall street wolf that can stop them

atapi "the full meal deal"Nov 14

@Phorm i've got plenty of beef with valve over many things but i do think they at least give a minimum of respect to their customers which is more than can be said for literally any other firm

atapi "the full meal deal"Nov 15

@Phorm not that i think gabe newell is really a great guy for being a billionaire. your 30% is hard at work giving him big boss yachts to throw parties on while he does fuck all. but the people, working at valve, doing the thing, i don't think they actuvely try to screw people over, and that's worth something i think

atapi "the full meal deal"Nov 15

@Phorm it's a very fragile situation too. Who's to argue that they won't go public when newell kicks? i hope there's something in place?

Joshua A.C. Newman Nov 14

@Phorm It makes me want to target Steam Machines for my weird art hardware peripheral.

/mərˈkjʊriəl/Nov 14

@Phorm wait what I didn't know any of this woah such good newsss

@Phorm I already have to thank them for Steam on Linux, that did give wine and Proton so much more usability than years ago.
It's ridiculus. I haven't even bootet to Windows for gaming since 5 months now. I did boot it to upgrade to windows 11, but only used that twice since upgrading to it.

Bit_form Nov 14

@Phorm year of the Linux desktop

- Surprise! It's Valve!

ity [unit X-69] - VIOLENT FUCK Nov 14

@Phorm I hope we'll get unlocked bootloader, maybe even TEE but that's wishful thinking

Crimson Red ☭Nov 15

@ity @Phorm Steam deck has unlocked bootloader, no reason to think any of these devices will be different.

MaxTheFox Nov 15

@d4rkness @Phorm @ity Yeah I'm pretty sure it's pretty much a prebuilt PC with Steam installed, no reason for it to have a locked bootloader.

ity [unit X-69] - VIOLENT FUCK Nov 15

@d4rkness @Phorm why no reason??? One is x86, the other is ARM, that's apples with oranges

ity [unit X-69] - VIOLENT FUCK Nov 15

@d4rkness @Phorm (we are talking about the Steam headset, right)

@ity @d4rkness @Phorm I would note the Steam Link, an ARM device, put no particular work into stopping you running your own OS on it

Crimson Red ☭Nov 15

@ity @Phorm ARM has no intrinsic part that prevents open bootloader, other than manufacturer restriction.

@Phorm
I guess it's something you can only do if your corporate head actually owns the company. Otherwise they'd be like "stonks go brrr"

yuki - queen of the snow Nov 14

@Phorm the fucking irony of seeing this post right above one from wikipedia france talking about how we should integrate “open-source AI” makes me realise why we need corporations like valve more

Wolf480pl Nov 14

@Phorm I think the difference is, Valve makes money by doing nothing. So all the money that's left it can spend on working on a single product for years without launching anything in the meantime.

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸Nov 14

@wolf480pl @Phorm I wouldn't call maintaining a service and community "doing nothing". They just don't be part of the whole tech hype bullshittery.

Wolf480pl Nov 14

@Natanox @Phorm
Yeah but like, it seems that maintaining that takes a small percentage of Valve's effort?

Idk, I haven't seen their books, but they seem to behave in a more secure and less desperate way...

April (@39c3) The Pink ⋆☾╶⃝⃤☽⋆ [AS208709]Nov 14

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm they have 130 employees accoeding to docs released a small number of years ago, and citing LTTs video, and speaking from a similarly sized companies experience, they probably have less emplyees than they liked for maintaining a platform their size

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm Valve is not a public company dependent on stock manipulation and at the mercy of rich idiots voting for nonsense.

Their value/income is linked to actually providing something people at least nominally want.

@lispi314
I don't understand why people say things like that.
What difference does it make if a small number of rich people vote (private company) versus any rich person who cares to buy stock?
@Natanox @Phorm @wolf480pl

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@light @lispi314 @Natanox @Phorm

- Publicly traded companies have a legal duty to maximize shareholder profits. If they don't, the shareholders can sue them.

- More people voting = dilution of responsibility.

- Shareholders of publicly traded companies change more often than owners of a private company, which means they demand short-term gains as opposed to long-term ones.

1/

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@light @lispi314 @Natanox @Phorm

- Few long-term owners means there's more continuity of leadership, i.e. when you start a multi-year strategy to achieve some long-term goal, you won't be overruled halfway through.

- If the long-term owners are publicly known, they're more likely to care about the company reputation and goodwill people have towards it

- If founders are still owners, they can have some unique insight random rich person doesn't

@wolf480pl
>If founders are still owners, they can have some unique insight random rich person doesn't
Can you elaborate on that?

>More people voting = dilution of responsibility.
>Few long-term owners means there's more continuity of leadership
These would also be a downside of democracy and an upside to oligarchy/monarchy, come to think of it. Especially if hereditary (continuity of leadership).

@lispi314 @Natanox @Phorm

Wolf480pl Nov 17

@light
re democracy - if people voting don't plan to live in the country in which they're voting, that too can be a problem.

And even if they do plan to stay, long-term planning usually doesn't win elections.

And yes, AFAIU hereditary monarchy tends to be better at long-term planning, but it has incentives to be exploitative towards its workforce, which is especially a problem if the workforce cannot leave because unlike a company, a state has monopoly on violence.

Natasha Nox 🇺🇦🇵🇸Nov 16

@light @lispi314 @Phorm @wolf480pl In public companies the success or even existence of a company is directly correlated to profit numbers and dividends, they quite literally can't follow any other ideals than profit maximization without being punished. In private companies the owners can follow ideals even if that means a reduction in profits, this however stands and falls with whatever mood the (potentially benevolent) dictator is in.

@Natanox @light @Phorm @wolf480pl There's also the aspect that some investment actors routinely make use of pump & dump stock manipulation and destroy companies for the sake of short-term gains which they capitalize on before the window of opportunity is lost.

(This has considerable collateral damage.)

Being a public company guarantees one is exposed to that kind of deliberate malicious greed.

A private company, meanwhile, is only subject to the greed and incompetence of its regular owners and operators. (A cooperative is the only sensible diffused ownership option, as all the owners then have a real stake in the business' success, sustainability and longetivity.)

Note that "public companies" doesn't in this contextual use refer to "nationalized companies", that's a different thing entirely.

@Natanox @light @lispi314 @Phorm @wolf480pl small correction: not profits but profit *growth* so the stocks are worth more and can be sold later or leveraged for credits

For any privately owned company like Valve that stayed in the hands of its founders, steady profit is more than good enough as it allows them to spend a bunch of money on R&D and random experiments with no care in the world since they don't need to justify how every cent spent will aid growth like a public company does

@light @lispi314 @Natanox @Phorm @wolf480pl in the case of Valve and any other company that stayed in the hands of its original founders, these rich owners are not just owners but usually actively involved in the company beyond just coming in every once and a while and demanding dumb shit or another fad thing that promises more growth.

Granted, it also helps that Gabe Newel and Valve broadly don't seem to really care for amassing pointless amounts of wealth as seen by how Valve blows a bunch of money on open source projects (like Wine, Gamescope, or DXVK), or years of hardware R&D without releasing anything to buy until they make the best thing they could. (this is in contrast to people like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk who already have more money than they could possibly spend in a lifetime yet still try to amass even more wealth)

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@Reiddragon @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314

I don't think Valve's motives for helping Linux gaming and doing hardware R&D are entirely selfless.

When MS teased locking down software installation in Win8 to just Windows Store, that directly threatened Steam - one of Valve's key revenue sources. (And if they were to force in-app purchases to go through Windows Store - that'd also threaten lootboxes).

So Valve has been trying to become independent of MS

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@Reiddragon @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314

What Valve can do that public companies can't, is slowly work towards that strategic goal for over a decade, without expecting immediate return on investment.

As long as gaming on general purpose computers is a major market, Valve can keep getting a cut on Steam game sales, and keep selling lootbox keys. And gaming on Linux is the best way to ensure that market survives long-term.

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314 the lootbox keys have nothing to do with Steam, tho. Call of Duty was selling lootboxes and cosmetics for years and years while being a guest on all platforms it was available on. Also, Valve *did* just crash the entire CS2 skins economy with an update a couple weeks ago so, y'know

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@Reiddragon @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314

you mean this? https://www.thegamer.com/counter-strike-2-market-crash-explained/

TIL, that's... interesting

What Happened To The Counter-Strike 2 Market?

Last month, the CS2 market crashed, dropping in value by $2.5 billion; we'll be unpacking what happened and why it's already recovering.

TheGamer

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314 YUP!

I think this was at least partially to crack down on the skin gambling scene, but this is just uninformed speculation as I'm not familiar with the CS2 skins economy and I haven't seen any official statement from Valve about this

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314 also

> Valve changed that rule, signifying [...] they don’t really care about players' and investors’ inventory values

or maybe y'all degenerates should stop treating video game skins as financial assets and instead let people have fun in that game (directed at the guy saying that, ofc)

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@Reiddragon @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314

read on

> “It is the Chinese people, especially rich Chinese people, who are putting their money into this because there are not enough alternatives,” [...] “The Chinese stock market has consistently been one of the worst-performing stock markets in the world, and there are restrictions on investing in foreign stock.

@wolf480pl @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314 China + investments is an equation that always leads to disaster.

Still, stocks and speculation in general are just complicated gambling and I really hate how they became normalized as a legitimate way to make money when they're really no different from trying to sell someone Tulips under the promise they can later sell them for more

Wolf480pl Nov 16

@Reiddragon @Natanox @Phorm @light @lispi314

Yeah but I wouldn't blame the article's author for explaining in detail how that disaster happened.

Also, while I agree that speculation (so like, gold, CS skins, bitcoin) is pretty much gambling, I wouldn't say the same about stocks that pay dividends.

Either way I'm not surprised that people in China who have large savings are looking for ways to invest it.