this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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[–] artyom@piefed.social 9 points 3 days ago (7 children)

This is exactly why they SHOULDN'T have named it Steam Machine. The Steam Deck was released and no one talked about Steam Machines. Call it Steam Machine and suddenly everyone is reminded of the colossal flop all those years ago.

[–] silverchase@sh.itjust.works 47 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Really, how many people cared about or even remember the original? The original program was a flop but that hasn't tainted the name.

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I remember it, and that memory is why this one kind of has me hopeful.

[–] silverchase@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Same. I don't have any immediate need for any of the newly announced hardware products, but I'm hopeful they succeed because they indirectly benefit me as a Linux gamer.

[–] Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Spec for spec, its a little bit better than my PC, I may consider getting this instead of upgrading of it's comparable in price.

[–] artyom@piefed.social -5 points 2 days ago

how many people cared about or even remember the original

The people who wrote this article do. And now so does everyone that came across it.

[–] Paradox@lemdro.id 21 points 2 days ago

I kind of wish they'd called em steam engines

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (1 children)

There's so few people that remember... Nobody cares.

And Steam Machine is going really hard as a brand and as a device name, really. I bet there's a lot of salivating at this level of brand recognition in a lot of marketing departments.

[–] vic_rattlehead@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was holding out for the Steam Engine.

[–] ladicius@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Game engine from Steam? Sounds like a logical next step.

[–] sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 days ago

Get the Steam Engine, from the Source :)

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Does it matter though? You can put it as a failure that got so bad Valve eventually cancel it, or you can put it as a product that got good from countless iteration. Its kinda like glass half empty half full kind of situation which eventually doesn't really matter.

[–] Acidbath@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

edit: shit you might be right because:

  1. what is someone gonna type into youtube/google/ or any other search engine?

  2. what are they going to end up see?

  3. are they smart enough to understand the differences in products?

~~I'm trying to think of a scenario where someone would think twice about purchasing a steam machine just because a product from 10 years ago bombed in sales.~~

~~This would require them to ignore the recent success of the steam deck.. which is basically impossible.~~

~~Therefore, I have doubts that the name alone would have ANY direct impact on sales~~

[–] Acidbath@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

then again i think xbox is doing alright with their crazy similar names.

[–] artyom@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I think MS is transitioning from XBOX = console to XBOX = MS gaming, which is smart, but they're just fumbling that communication.

[–] Acidbath@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Maybe its the norm in the gaming community like what the heck is a "NEW" nintendo 3ds lol. At this point everyone needs to fire their marketing team.

[–] UnPassive@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I remember the flop, but since Proton and Steam Deck have been waiting for them to try again. In many ways it might be bad marketing and just adding a "2" to the name would probably help. But in other ways, it might just be them being transparent? Same with the controller. Like they're owning their past and saying "we still want this, and the time is right this time"

[–] Acidbath@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

This is the initial vibes I got but then again I might be bias because I'm already familiar with steam. Honestly, it might be better if valve added 2 to the end of their products. For example, The nothing phone company tried to do something "unique" with their earbuds but all that did was confuse the shit out of people. I think they reverted back to numbering them.

But then on the flip side, sony is infamously known to name all their products with a shit load of numbers.. so tbh this can go either way lmao

[–] kratoz29@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

A friend of mine thinks it is gonna flop (tbh nobody knows), only because of that prior flop, he refuses to acknowledge that they might have learned of their mistakes, and hardly acknowledge that the Steam Deck is a success, only because it is a different market (he truly doesn't believe in Steam hardware).

I for one am excited as I don't have any PC gaming at the moment (or Steam Deck lol), I have been a console (and mostly handheld) gamer since the old days, and this bet on Steam makes sense for me in this day and age.