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Valve is known for keeping their cards close to the vest, but every once and awhile, founder Gabe Newell opens up a bit. The legendary CEO was on hand at Friday night’s VGA awards, and confirmed during an interview with Kotaku that a Steam Box would go head to head with the next generation of consoles.
Valve seems to have been empowered by consumer interest in “big picture mode”, and is actively researching new and interesting ways to make PCs work better in the living room. The fact that Steam now runs on Linux could also help keep costs down. The prospect of a Steam Box in the living room brings to mind endless possibilities, but Newell was careful to manage our expectations when it comes to added functionality.
"Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment," he said. "If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. For people who want a more turnkey solution, that's what some people are really gonna want for their living room. The nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them."
A locked down Steam Box running Linux probably wouldn’t be all that useful, however, Newell made it clear that third party OEM’s were welcome to join the party as well.
Comments are closed on this article
Nyarlathotep
December 11, 2012 at 12:40pm
I wonder if consumers will be able to install games from disc and add them to Steam or if will only work with content downloaded through Steam. How about streaming content from the internet or another computer on your home network?
We do not have enough information at this point to really form an opinion... so let the unfounded hyping commence.
RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
December 11, 2012 at 4:54am
Yes, please shag Microsoft like a cheap whore. After screwing up PC gaming with their XBox, screwing up the original Halo, screwing Mechwarrior, and fucking up Windows 8 beyond belief, Microsoft deserves it hard and dry.
jedisamurai
December 10, 2012 at 3:26pm
This is nothing but good news. For people who have cash and time to burn on creating, modifying, and endlessly tweaking a gaming PC, they are welcome to keep doing so. But for people short on time, cash, and patience, finally a solution that allows them to play PC games WITHOUT shelling out a fortune for graphics card upgrades, spending hours installing, uninstalling, and changing settings to get acceptable performance.
This is quite literally the device I have been waiting for. I own hundreds of PC games, and hundreds of console games, and was dreading the prospect of buying a new computer just to be able to run new games a few years from now. Now I don't have to. Every few years I'll buy or upgrade to a new version of a Steam Box for a fraction of the price of a new PC, and be able to play current gen game with acceptable performance! Maybe not awesome performance...but then again, I'm not rich.
JIFF01
December 10, 2012 at 7:12pm
ALl video games are computer games
The problem with consoles (and the advantage they have) is they get frozen in time, thus the programmers can tweak and make the most of the hardware,
But Steam is doing a diservice to the PC gaming industry with this, all they are doing is rivaling microsoft and Sony,What we should have be doing is not mocking the lazy basterds that play on consoles, but showing how easy it is to build a PC
Hilarity
December 10, 2012 at 1:10pm
Will it have a 680? A 3770? 16GB RAM? No? If you want to become a console peasant then fine, I'll stick with my superior PC. This is another useless console that will be heavily cut down, otherwise you might as well build you own.
Penterax
December 10, 2012 at 12:51pm
And, the real reason Newell bashed Win 8 so hard. Surprise! Not.
I want to see Valve work on Steam. It's got great features, but it's buggy as heck.
I sent in a ticket for customer support (You have to make an account just for support, separate from your game account - what's up with that?) and it took almost 2 weeks to get a response - and the response was a form letter that had nothing to do with my issue.
Even if I was a console user, no way I'd buy a Valve console.
JIFF01
December 10, 2012 at 7:15pm
It was clear all he was doing was preparing this stupid console, and decided to undermine windows, what a piece of excrement
Refuge88
December 10, 2012 at 11:31am
So, I'm not sure if I understand where they are going from this.
Everyone I talk to you or see on forums/comments sections about this seems to speak of this like it is going to be some sort of HTPC.
But I don't feel that this is the direction they are trying to go, and for good reason as some have mentioned the price would be too high to make a profit that is if their goal was to compete with the Consoles.
What I'm expecting is a console with competitive specs to the next gen consoles, and I'm hoping it will be upgradeable, but I'm not sure if it will be, because the whole boone for consoles is games are made for set specs, and not a wide array, makes it easier and cheaper to make them. If we get upgradeable parts, then I'm not sure if it will defeat that or not.
If anyone cares to set me straight on this please clarify things for me!
Thanks!
-Refuge
LatiosXT
December 10, 2012 at 9:13am
Unless they're willing to put a ridiculous price tag on it, the hardware is going to look pretty pathetic as a PC gaming box if they stick with COTS items. And if $300-$400 is about the sweet spot, look at what you can get for that much in a PC.
But it depends if they do a sell for profit or sell for loss model. Even if they do a sell for loss model and sell the equivalent of a $800 PC, that's a lot of money they're going to be tossing.
And if they really want to keep the whole "PC gaming does it better" approach, they're never going to sell a box for profit. Maybe it won't matter with Steam generating a truck ton of sales, but also keep in mind that most of those sales only happen when everything gets cut in half. Consoles still enjoy a steady stream of cash from the $60 end.
kitsunekaji
December 10, 2012 at 8:17am
Hmmm... I ask myself "Would I like to be able to just pop a PC game into a console and play it without worrying about compatibility issues?" The answer is yes.
My next question would be "Can I do simple upgrades to this system later on -when newer/heavier games come out for it?" If the answer to that is yes, then such a system would alleviate my having to build a gaming PC, now wouldn't it.
That would be wonderful, but I doubt that things will turn out that way. It is nice to dream though.
FrancesTheMute
December 10, 2012 at 8:07am
This will be brilliant if they make it partially upgradable, that would give it a HUGE advantage over consoles.
vrmlbasic
December 10, 2012 at 8:40am
Modern consoles are already partially upgradable, technically.
Ghok
December 09, 2012 at 10:54pm
Not really aimed at someone who already has a PC? Maybe as a second PC for the living room or something, or you could buy it for someone who likes how PC games play but can't be bothered to assemble one themselves.
I can see some market for this, but Valve has to be careful not to kill what would be feeding this thing... and that's a love of PC style games, otherwise you might as well just buy a console.
I'm sure I'm like many people... I like all kinds of games, I have a controller for my PC, and even wish more games that used it would come out! (would love a good PC platformer!) but when I actually do see games that encourage their use, I get a little fearful that games with more complicated controls will go away. Is this rational? well, maybe not, but then I think of all the various franchises that started out on PC and have all become terrible (or sub-par) console franchises, and I know my fears aren't totally unfounded.
Peanut Fox
December 09, 2012 at 10:33pm
I can only speculate on what the final Steam Box will be, but as it stands the market can barely support 3 major consoles, there's no way 4 can fit into this space.
Unless we get lots of new people playing games, or Valve is able to remove Sony or Microsoft from the equation, the Steam Box won't sell very well as a traditional console.
majorsuave
December 09, 2012 at 7:11pm
That might be a good thing if the "Steam Box" is really just a Windows HTPC with a modded shell and a predetermined set of hardware and that can actually play all of Valve's catalog as well as anything you might throw at a PC.
When I think predetermined hardware I'm thinking "AMD FX-something with Radeon HD something and up with fixed chipset model" OR "Intel core iSomething with Nvidia something GTX and up"
Will suck if it is only able to play games created with that box in mind. I now own a lot of games on Steam, if they are not supported by a Steam Box, it has no use to me.
Then again, Steam can play my games on my HTPC. my desktop, my laptop and my work PC. If I can use a SteamBox and repurpose the HTPC, then great.
Peanut Fox
December 09, 2012 at 9:19pm
I think it's more likely it'll be a custom Linux based OS versus a Windows PC.
It doesn't make sense if you're Valve to take a hit in the cost of an OS on top of everything else. This also gives Valve the option to completely control the platform.
I can't see this being very successful unless they plan to do some serious kowtowing on their platform, or it plays PC versions of games.
vrmlbasic
December 09, 2012 at 5:55pm
Finally, now I have a chance of being able to play PC versions of games with my non-PC-inclined friends. The Xbox 360 is an antiquated piece of garbage but I've been forced into using it because it is all most of my gamer friends have.
Borderlands 1 & 2 on 360 is hell on the eyes.
Hopefully it will have the same low "learning curve" and high-ish convenience of Xbox Live.
Sir Hobbes3
December 09, 2012 at 4:20pm
Thanks Gabe, this is EXACTLY what I've wanted to hear for some time now!!!!!
lindethier
December 09, 2012 at 4:07pm
I'm okay with this. It might be interesting to see what these things would end up looking like.
If some of the manufacturers made their own kind of SteamBox, you would get some cool looking options between them. I don't think any of the PC vendors would be willing to take a risk with building one of these, however.
Either way, I'm gonna keep rocking my gaming rig until she gives up the ghost. :)
CarryingColoradan
December 09, 2012 at 12:46pm
Interesting development, but unless you can play with a keyboard and mouse, I'm not interested. (Not interested in a Steam Box in place of my 6-core monster anyway, but....) The console-style controller is a deal-killer for me. :^p
mclovin
December 09, 2012 at 12:20pm
Warrior, I don't think your comment makes a lot of sense. Surprised nobody's flamed you yet...
So this is merely Valve offering an OPTION to consumers who may be interested in a more standardized Steam experience on the big screen. This IS NOT like the consoles, because Valve will continue to support and champion the open-ended Steam experience on PC. If you don't like this, you don't have to buy it.
This is very different from Apple and the evil consoles because they offer ONLY a closed experience, and ACTIVELY work to constrain the environment.
I don't see how Valve offering an option, that doesn't conflict with the real Steam, is a problem. If anything, this may lure more people over to the Light-Side of a more open-ended PC experience.
Warrior247
December 09, 2012 at 2:06pm
"Warrior, I don't think your comment makes a lot of sense. Surprised nobody's flamed you yet..."
My comments make alot of sense and only tards flame. Back your junk up with some facts. I've been gaming for decades, on everything! I've seen things come and go. EVERYTHING starts out with a massive hype. Fanboys are made "now". People start swearing by vaporware, something that they've never seen or played at all!! Anyone using the OnLive cloud service? Hmmmmmm... IMO, in order for this thing to be successful, it has to at least kill PC gaming as we know it. Not only will consoles be all but impossible to defeat, the PC will take sales away from it too. Why buy something twice? Why pay for something when you don't have to?
SilverSurferNHS
December 09, 2012 at 12:53pm
^ Which in turn will bring competition that some of us don't even have to be a part of to reap the benefits of. Which is a possibility that i like best about this whole thing.
Warrior247
December 09, 2012 at 2:48pm
Yea, it's that whole AMD, Intel and Nvidia competition thingy. Yet for some reason "somenone" is not really competitive, and they're still charging $1000 for a GPU or CPU even for the shitty ones. Some competition. In the cosnole wars, you just die off or are killed off.
Neufeldt2002
December 09, 2012 at 12:15pm
"A locked down Steam Box running Linux probably wouldn’t be all that useful..."
I would imagine that the Steam Box would run a modified version of Linux though as that would cut development times by a fairly large margarine. Especially given the work that they are doing with nVidia and AMD on the Linux platform. Couple that with other things they have said on their Linux Blog regarding getting other game developers to support Linux, etc, seems that this is the most logical conclusion.
Hope they can make it work as competition makes it better for all involved.
Neufeldt2002
December 10, 2012 at 1:50pm
So sorry, meant margin. *facepalm* knew something wasn't right when I wrote it, but it was just plain stupidity on my part for not catching that.
Warrior247
December 09, 2012 at 12:07pm
"THIS GUY!" After yeeearrs of attacking Apple, consoles, M$, ect about closed enviroments, he creates his own console/PC mutant monstrosity. ""Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment," he said. "If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC." So, Apple and the console makers WERE right?!! Since Steam is already on the console and the PC, why buy this? Huge fail!
SilverSurferNHS
December 09, 2012 at 12:16pm
Look at it this way:
If you desperately wanted a piece of that console pie that everyone likes, but you hated, would you turn your back on it and try to forget about the financial opportunity lost? Or would you try to make your own pie, your way, to get some market share?
Warrior247
December 09, 2012 at 1:50pm
You hit the nail right on the head. He "desperately" wanted a piece of that console pie. So in his infinite wisdom he attacked it?!! In his hate for consoles, he creates... a console? Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Nothing like a nice hot cup of hypocrisy to wash down all of that crow he just injested! So much for that so called "PC loyalty". I guess this was the last shoe to drop. He, and the hapless fools that he'll sell this thing to are gonna learn some very hard lessons, fast. He can now consider this Steam Box a competitor in the console world. You can brag, or say what you want about hardware. But in the console world, "content is king". Don't have the exclusives, the big games or the big names on your system. Have a funky OS that is hard to program for (isn't the PS3 Linux based too?). Have alot of problems with your hardware or software like the PC constantly does. Have, or don't have many of those things and it's "GAME OVER", pun intended. So that means he better pucker up and start kissing EA's @$$ real fast, right now! Watch that warranty suck to high heaven. So much for "openess", if you open that box...you own it!
Dartht33bagger
December 09, 2012 at 2:47pm
You do realize that the Steam box would NEED to be a closed platform to accomplish what it's trying to do, right? Steam users on the PC aren't the target of this platform. The target for this platform is gamers that want to start up their console and play a game. They aren't the type that wants to deal with drivers issues, hotfixes, workarounds, etc. These gamers want to get a game and go and want to avoid the hassle that is involved with running a PC game.
Keeping the platform open would be bad for two reasons:
1. If it was an open platform it would be no different than a PC running Steam big picture. What's the point of making a new platform for something that already exists?
2. If one of the target gamers changed a setting or deleted a file on accident that created a boat load of issues, do you think they would still want to use it? On the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, you can't do anything like this. It needs to be closed to fight this.
Warrior247
December 10, 2012 at 8:27am
Who says it "needs" to be closed? It could be an open box (he, he). That would just create headaches for Valve. He's no dummy, he's not gonna let "you" open and fiddle with a damn thing, screw it up, and send it back to him for repair under warranty. So you become a hypocrite, make a closed system after attacking closed systems, basically a "console". So, how is this thing going to be "updated"? What are they trying to do, DID THEY TELL YOU? Who the hell wants to deal with drivers issues, hotfixes, workarounds, etc? Do you? Of course gamers want to avoid the hassle that is involved with running a PC game. Why should it be a hassles? Especially with all of this so called "superiority" of the PC going on. It can't even run a $50 console game effectively? If the Steam Box is plagued with these problems and has a lack of software, then it'll be over within a year. Oh, Gabe has been "assimilated" waaahahahaha!!!
steven4570
December 09, 2012 at 2:36pm
granted this list a almost a year old but heres a list if Exclusives for all platforms as well as what games are cross platform
http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/290660-List-of-upcoming-PC-exclusives-in-2012!
Warrior247
December 10, 2012 at 8:21am
Granted, but if this thing is gonna be a player, it has to have a huge installed user base just so the devs can make some money. M$ and Sony will sell millions on launch day alone! Also, does Valve have the deep pockets to pay for the world wide launch, advertising, exclusives, timed exclusive, or just to keep a AAA game off of the rival systems? Do they have large third party support, third party studios dedicated to just them? They've already alienated EA, and if they don't get EA sports games on that thing it won't do $h!t in the states. Just ask the Sega Dreamcast, EA backed Sony and destroyed Sega. There is alot and I just don't see it. The Steam Box seems to be made out of an effort of anger and revenge. Hopefully I'm wrong, but looking back at the history of the console wars and seeing who came and went, it's not looking good for the Steam Box. Since we've seen NOTHING hardware wise yet (no news, specs, pictures, ect) Gabe could just be blowing...Steam!
