Valve's dramatic return to hardware isn't just a blow to Microsoft and a challenge to Sony's dominance; it's the fruit of a decade of fastidious work

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Valve's upcoming Steam Machine represents a strategic challenge to both Microsoft and Sony in the console market, leveraging a decade of development on Steam Deck and SteamOS. The device combines competitive pricing with access to extensive Steam libraries and a Linux-based OS that outperforms Windows in gaming benchmarks through lower overhead and the Proton emulation layer. This timing particularly impacts Microsoft's pivot toward Xbox-Windows integration, as Valve's approach offers similar PC-console hybrid functionality at mass-market prices. The Steam Deck served as a crucial testbed, proving that optimized software can deliver strong gaming performance on modest hardware specs.

The Steam Machine could be an industry turning point | Opinion

I hope, Microsoft and Sony will get absolutely stomped by this. Those monopolies definitely deserve it.

It will not.
Probably coming at a price &gt;$600, so not competitive enough.
It need to be &lt;$500 (and I would say 500€ in EU, including taxes) to be really a game changer in the industry.
If not, it will not seduce console players (too costly) nor PC players (not enough perf for the price) and will be a niche system.

My biggest concern is that PC games are not developed focused on being optimized for a specific hardware set like console games. Steam box might run smoothly today’s games, but what about next year releases?

I very much hope this will land and make a splash, the last generation on the console side has been disappointing, Microsoft have imploded in there quest to chase AI, Sony have done better than that but keep hiking the console price and Nintendo … well if you love them then good for you but I can’t see how Switch 2 is a win at all. All this sets the stage for Valve to bring a living room offering and I hope they seize it!