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Steam Hardware [new Steam Controller, Steam Machine, and VR headset Steam Frame, coming in 2026]
(store.steampowered.com)
this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2025
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These sound absolutely amazing but it all depends on the price.
if the Steam controller is on par with a new 8bitdo then I would definitely pick it up.
The steam machine sounds intriguing but there is already a big market for mini PCs and I don't know if consumers would go out of their way to buy a steam PC box. I'm most skeptical about this one
Steam Frame looks fantastic but I really hope it's cheap enough to compete with the Meta Quest 3 and isn't just another ~$1000 headset for enthusiasts
There could never be a better test for the hypothesis than this critical moment where people are fucking pissed at Microsoft.
people can still just buy a $500 mini PC and install Linux on it
The part where they have to install the OS itself is going to be a major deal breaker for mass market.
GPU performance, unknown OS compatibility issues, performance profiles for normies.
I love NUC like devices and I already run linux, but i'm confident the steamos implementation will just work on their hardware because they're building it for it.
If you're on an AMD GPU and not at least dual booting linux you're missing out imo. Only a handful of competitive online games need windows for anticheat/drm.
The overwhelming majority of consumers will never install an OS on a system.
They will only ever use the OS that came pre-installed.
Folks that would/could do that are not the folks this seems geared towards IMO, and I think it may whoosh a lot of us on Lemmy because in general we like to tinker and figure tech out, that's obviously not ubiquitous, but the vast majority of people(read consumers) do not want that at all. I also suspect the Steam Machine will be priced right around $500 to compete with the PS5, depending on their sales expectations they could legit make this a loss leader.
More likely geared towards the average PC gamer that just wants to play games and doesn't give a fuck about OSS or Linux in addition to lifelong console gamers that prefer controllers on couch gaming but are interested in all the other perks/freedoms that PCs offer. I was in the latter group about a year ago when I bought my deck.
I don't think they will. The problem is that the hardware is open.
Closed-system console vendors can sell at a loss because if you've bought the console and don't buy games from them for it, you're going to have limited use of it. It's maybe an expensive Blu-Ray player or something. Not a sensible purchase. You're gonna buy games for it.
So they can just crank up the price of games and make their return over time from games.
But if the Steam Machine is sold at a loss, then people will also buy it to use it as a regular mini-PC, and Valve doesn't make a return from them.
If the performance and price is comparable to rolling your own mini-ITX rig then why not?
Steam Machine feels more like a console that happens to also be a PC. If reasonably priced, the question is why anyone would want to buy Xbox or PlayStation when Steam Machine has a bigger library than both combined - on launch.
Because normies can't get Fortnite running easily on linux (afaik anyway), or other popular competitive titles like battlefield 6 or call of duty 2025 to run at all.
Most of the normies probably already have a console with some licenses that will carry over. PC gamers have a desktop system (often in addition to a console.) It's just not the same.
Consoles just work. You don't need to understand much. The deck has definitely not been a painless process but obviously it's pretty good, especially if you stick to green checkmark titles. Having to research what games will work, how well they work, and how to make them work if not by default is too much for a lot of people.
I'm glad it's coming though. More people running linux means better support overall from hardware vendors and software developers. Gaming on linux is in a great place today but it feels more like how gaming was 20 years ago where you sometimes have to look something up to get something working, and installing an OS is simply too much for a lot of people.
That’s right. I forgot there are ”normie games” with kernel anti cheat
The dream is that these "niche" hardware starts to gain momentum and these dumb anti cheat kernel start to disappear... Like I said, a dream.
The worst part are all the games that have anticheat that totally works fine on linux, but they simply don't allow it to function in their game. At least there's a list https://areweanticheatyet.com/
PlayStation is probably going to still have exclusives, or at least timed exclusives, driving some sales. But this announcement may be the final nail in Xbox's coffin.
You might not be the target audience. I'm comfortable building an HTPC and putting an OS and all on it and configuring it, but the benefit of a console is that someone just gets an all-in-one setup that works out-of-box. Well, and that game developers are specifically testing against.
Like, if it weren't a barrier, you'd probably just have everyone using PCs instead of consoles in their living room. Might open the gates to let console-only folks do Steam.
Linux is a shit show for general purpose normies. You still have issues for days if you don't buy the correct hardware. This will smooth the experience giving a known good start.
I think the mass market would still rather buy a console, so I assume most people interested in the steam machine specifically want a PC box. Now that I looked at the specs it doesn't seem that powerful, and I doubt it will be cheaper than a PS5.
Digital Foundry's analysis of it is that it could retail for somewhere between $400 and $500, but it will be slightly less powerful than a PS5, and therefore, it wouldn't be as attractive at $500 retail. Valve probably knows that, too.