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Valve is about to win the console generation

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Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#451

Post by johnnyanmac »

cirelli94 wrote: post #186
tapoxi wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This system won't run FIFA, GTA Online, Battlefield, Valorant or CoD, it's a nonstarter for many. Sure you don't need to subscribe to PS+, but that's somewhat easier to swallow since PS+ gives you games with the subscription. I'm still interested in this for playing older games but I have a Steam Deck and it still isn't remotely as seamless as my Switch or PS5.

> This system won't run FIFA, GTA Online, Battlefield, Valorant or CoD, it's a nonstarter for many. That's largely known now but still a bummer. I wonder if anything will ever change in this area and if Valve will be able to pressure game editors or create an anti-cheat so good and for any platform to be able to change something.

Don't see why they'd risk it. They already had to reduce their cut just to attract players like Activision and Take Two onto their platform.

Also, making anti cheat on Linux feels like the most Anti-Linux thing to do. But I don't play many multiplayer games, so I have no skin in the game.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#452

Post by Sammi »

tapoxi wrote: post #156
nodja wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All they have to do is market the fact you don't have to pay for online. PS5 + 3 years of PS Plus = $740 Steam Machine = $700 Add/remove more years of PS Plus if the SM turns out to be more/less expensive. If you add the fact that games on PC are usually cheaper and have sales more often then it's a no brainer, but that won't convince the FIFA and COD players.

This system won't run FIFA, GTA Online, Battlefield, Valorant or CoD, it's a nonstarter for many. Sure you don't need to subscribe to PS+, but that's somewhat easier to swallow since PS+ gives you games with the subscription. I'm still interested in this for playing older games but I have a Steam Deck and it still isn't remotely as seamless as my Switch or PS5.

*yet

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#453

Post by johnnyanmac »

dagmx wrote: post #47
NelsonMinar wrote: post #22

As the article says, "The only way that they could mess this up is with the pricing. ... I'd expect the pricing to be super aggressive." The price to beat is the $400-$500 price point of PS5 and XBox. I'm guessing Valve is going to have a very hard time matching that. We'll know soon enough.

They told press that it wouldn’t be console pricing and would match entry level PC. I think it’s going to be $800

800 is probably already too much for the compromises you need to make. You happily make those compromises for a handheld due to its nature. But a desktop is a harder sell.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#454

Post by MagicMoonlight »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #448
jsmailes wrote: post #242

For me, the big killer feature would be if this device is approved for modern media DRM. As much as I'm tired of streaming and its level of control over how I watch TV, it's still a decent part of my media consumption, but any Linux mini-PC I connect to the TV can only do low-resolution streaming from most providers. If the steam machine is approved for high-resolution streaming, it could totally replace the smart TV…

Yeah. This is why I threw that all away and simply pirate for my NAS. Im not watching much new media to begin with. and they make it hell, if not impossible, to stream a lot of older shows. And of I do find them I need to compromise with how I stream it, with what account, and where. I just got tired of all VPNs, the DRMs, and trying to tune my network just to try and get a decent feed. Instead, map a network drive o…

If you pay £20/month you’ll get 720p. If you pay £0/month you get 4k original rips.

It’s just pointless paying.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#455

Post by bryanlarsen »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #447
bryanlarsen wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're listing the losers in the market, the ones that had to drop prices to make sales. The real volume sellers weren't generally sold at a loss. Most Nintendo consoles were never sold at a loss. Sony often sold at a loss in the first year or so, but their redesigns made them profitable, and the vast majority of sales happened after redesigns. Moore's law was responsible for a large portion of the profits from hardw…

Okay. That doesn't conflict with their point. "No one had to sell at a loss... Except every non-market leader" only proves their point. >, but their redesigns made them profitable No one says consoles always sell at a loss. They are sold over 6-8 years and price drops are pretty conservative (until last gen where they ceased to be). Every conse eventually becomes profitable, but not in the years where they sell the m…

> but not in the years where they sell the most.

Nope. Take 1 example, the PS3. It lost money in 2007 & 2008, but became profitable in 2009. They sold 16 million PS3's in 2007 and 2008 out of a total 87 million. So approximately 20% of PS3's were sold at a loss.

And the PS3 is perhaps the console that was sold at the biggest loss at the beginning due to the horrendously expensive Cell chip.

It's kind of moot, anyways. The discussion is about the consoles of 2026 competing against Steam Machine. The PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Switch 2 are all currently being sold for positive margin.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#456

Post by hamdingers »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #446
hamdingers wrote: post #429

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A similar spec laptop from ASUS with a 7600S is $988 on Amazon right now, and it comes with a screen, keyboard, mouse, battery, and Windows license. I'd be shocked if Valve is so out of touch they would kill this thing with an unwarranted price tag, but I guess we'll see.

"Id be shocked if Valve is so out of touch they would kill this thing with an unwarranted price tag" It happened a decade ago. Wouldn't surprise me. My bet is it will be similar to steam deck. The starting specs will be somewhat comoetitve to a PS5 Pro but with huge compromises (in Steam Deck'Deck's case, flash storage). A model that competently competes with a proper gaming oc will probably be 1000 or so. Valve got…

> It happened a decade ago.

The Steam Deck shows they learned every available lesson from that endeavor. Why would they retread mistakes they've already proven they know not to make?

> The starting specs will be somewhat comoetitve to a PS5 Pro but with huge compromises (in Steam Deck'Deck's case, flash storage). A model that competently competes with a proper gaming oc will probably be 1000 or so.

The specs are already public, the only thing we don't know is the pricing. RTFA

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#457

Post by zyx321 »

wraptile wrote: post #141
robomc wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I mean... can I play Fortnite, BF6 or the upcoming GTA on steamOS?

These are not winner games these days. Gaming trends are so fast that indie games like the one where you play a duck with a gun is what's driving the gaming community these days.

Duckov is not indie. It's a reasonably sized game backed by a large (Chinese) publisher.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#458

Post by marginalia_nu »

redwall_hp wrote: post #388
marginalia_nu wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the Steam Machine is in a newer generation than the PS5?

Its specs seem on par with the PS5 Pro, and this doesn't even have a price or a shipping date yet. The PS5 is already about five years old, has had a slim release and a PS5 Pro. The PS6 announcement is probably a year away, with a 2027 or 2028 release. Valve is launching a last-gen console, probably at a price that won't be competitive, right before the PS6 comes out.

Is console generation really a statement about performance?

Where does that leave e.g. Nintendo Wii, which is generally considered to be the same generation as the Xbox 360 or PS3, despite having not nearly the performance.

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#459

Post by lousken »

jsmailes wrote: post #242

For me, the big killer feature would be if this device is approved for modern media DRM. As much as I'm tired of streaming and its level of control over how I watch TV, it's still a decent part of my media consumption, but any Linux mini-PC I connect to the TV can only do low-resolution streaming from most providers. If the steam machine is approved for high-resolution streaming, it could totally replace the smart TV…

why is that a problem? if those companies don't give you options, you can pirate everything up to 4k just fine

Re: Valve is about to win the console generation

#460

Post by josephg »

TiredOfLife wrote: post #315
josephg wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a bunch of games for console over the years that I can't play any more. I have about a dozen games on the switch. In another console generation, nintendo will make all my existing switch games unplayable again. I feel like you don't really buy console games. You rent them for one console generation. I mean, I can't tell whats worse - that Nintendo has the gall to try and sell me the same game for switch that…

Switch 2 plays all* switch 1 games. Xbox series plays all xbox one and even a bunch of xbox 360 games Ps5 plays all* ps4 games Every console has moved to essentially off the shelf soc so backwards compatiblity comes as a side effect

Once burned, twice shy. It’s going to take a few more generations to see how long they actually maintain that compatibility for going forward.

I suspect consoles will move to arm chips at some point. When they do, will Sony and Nintendo bother making a Rosetta type layer for backwards compatibility to play the games they’re selling now? I doubt it. We’ll see.

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