931–940 of 1001 posts
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Valve respects its customers. It is so insane that this isn't a norm; what a world we would be in if all companies did so.
Except that you don't own the things you buy on steam
> Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer? I'm so happy to read this
Pretty much the only reason I boot to Windows anymore is to play games with my kids and family. The direction of this thing is dangerously close to being all I'd care about from a desktop computer. If Valve pivoted into making a well-supported laptop with good hardware that ran Linux and played games...
Same, if they also released something like a Steam Machine Pro with more ram+vram and bit higher specs I would instantly purchase it. Nvidia and AMD have been rightly criticized for releasing 8GB video cards in the past year and valve shouldn't be immune to that criticism.
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I don't think this needs to be a theory. Valve regards Microsoft's flirtations with walled gardens (MS Store) as an existential threat. They see their investment into linux gaming as a hedge against future locked down windows OS, which is at this point probably inevitable.
Absolutely. This is a long term strategy stemming from the moment Microsoft spawned their app store. A lot of people are missing the fact that the Steam Frame is Valve's attempt at staking a position in the wide-open and malleable VR space. With Google, they identified that Microsoft developing their own search engine as an existential threat. Additionally, Internet Explorer being the only bottleneck for the web as a…
That story ended up with Google supplanting Microsoft as the top market abuser. So I'm holding all my fingers crossed that it doesn't turn out the same with Valve, especially since by the time they get to have a shot at that top position Valve will very likely be under different leadership and maybe with different ideals.
"Steam Machine’s pricing is comparable to a PC with similar specs" [0] It has to be no more than 800€ then if it also wants to compete against the console market. Even 800€ is too much imo because looking at the specs it's already not a "future proof" build, more like a previous gen gaming laptop 0, https://www.theverge.com/tech/818111/valve-steam-machine-han...
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> "No indication for whether the CPU/GPU/RAM/SSD are upgradable or all soldered together on the board" With 99.9% certainty this box is carrying on the legacy of the Deck and the Deck OLED, which means that it has a 100% custom crafted SoC with soldered components. Which also means they also could perform some trickery not found in "normal" PCs, like UDMA and custom interface. > "but doesn't mention what kind of game…
They said it's semi-custom discrete not a custom SoC. So basically it's a Ryzen 7400 + Radeon 7400.
My theory for a bit now has been that Valve is playing the long game in trying to make SteamOS a mainstay gaming platform as an alternative to Windows, and that the hardware products are essentially a way of breaking into that market. Even a few years ago, the idea of a custom Linux distro based on Arch Linux with both a built-in full desktop mode and a lower-powered gaming mode that you could switch between on a han…
> " All of this insulates them from having to worry about the long-term sustainability of making money from game sales on Windows... " The weak link in your theory is that Microsoft is in control of the future of the DirectX API, not Valve, and it is Microsoft who is working with nVidia and AMD and game studios to evolve DirectX to take advantage of the latest GPU features. SteamOS can at best follow closely behind b…
My theory for a bit now has been that Valve is playing the long game in trying to make SteamOS a mainstay gaming platform as an alternative to Windows, and that the hardware products are essentially a way of breaking into that market. Even a few years ago, the idea of a custom Linux distro based on Arch Linux with both a built-in full desktop mode and a lower-powered gaming mode that you could switch between on a han…
Though not necessarily the case since selling steam devices also will make steam the default even more which could also be a primary reason it could also be both, who knows.
> Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer? I'm so happy to read this
Turns out that a company that is not publicly traded and run by people that only care about stock prices, can actually care about their customers.
The more interesting point is that if you aren't driven by investors to care about short term financial stuff (stock prices) then you can make long term decisions. Caring about your customers is a classic one for this - costs you money in the short term, but in the long term gets you a great customer base.