Weebdeluxe3d ago

I have been thinking quite a bit about the Steam Machine pricepoint.

To be honest, it's not that bad. At this point I'm not going to be surprised if it's sold out quickly. People like to pay extra for convenience, damn the specs and all. Devs are going to target it as they did with the Steam Deck and are doing with Switch 2.

Steam OS is going to be a Linux Distro that will accumulate a lot of users over time and will be a gateway for new Linux users. The Steam Deck did that for me.

Linux users in general will be the winners here tbh.

I have seen a lot of doom and gloom on here. But I have seen the same for the Switch 2 and the Steam Deck post price range and those things sre selling well. I'd say the reaction is mostly a bubble thing.

#gaming #steammachine #linuxgaming

Show threadWeebdeluxe3d ago

Like, Valve is not trying to sell this to a hardcore Linux userbase you find on Mastodon. It's selling it to gamers who bought into the Steam ecosystem and who are looking for a family friendly device for the living room.

All the "This can't replace my gaming PC" talk is a load of bull. Of course it can't. You probably build a new gaming PC every 3 years with parts you sourced yourself anyway, as if a prebuilt box would ever entice you.

Show threadWeebdeluxe3d ago

Also, just a small reminder:

If you think the initial price of the Steam Machine is high, then let's have this talk again in a year, when they have to stack a couple of hundreds of bucks on top of it.

Gaming hardware prices are batshit crazy and will be worse in a year.

Show threadBloodaxe

@weebdeluxe
Brother the Switch 2 is at $449, and more comparably hardware-wise the base PS5 is at $599. What kind of normie on God's green earth are going to pay an extra $450 for more or less the same experience? Tons of people don't even think about the "actually own your hardware" element of it (unfortunately).

If this is to ever succeed in the slightest, Valve will have to do some crazy marketing maneuvers 😔

Jun 25 at 8:29amWeb
Show threadBloodaxe3d ago

And other hardware following suit - I highly doubt those locked-down platforms will push prices up to the same level as the Steam Machine, because they can still guarantee money from game-sales will go into their pockets to compensate.

And evwn if they did follow, the brand damage is done. "Steam Machine is massively overpriced" is all you'll be hearing for a looong time.
@weebdeluxe