this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2026
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What you read may well be correct, but I wonder how that legal battle would play out. There are other PC manufacturers that can definitely build a competing product. Also, what sets this apart from being another console? It's a custom built machine designed to play games, specifically from Steam. I'm not sure how that's different from an Xbox that has access to GamePass being the only console that can do that. If Steam sold this as the Steam Machine Console, would that change things?
Presumably PC games are considered their own market, separate enough from console games. It honestly seems murky reasoning to me, but I would imagine valve would be cautious about it since they're currently facing monopoly lawsuits.
Completely fair. Some fights aren't worth fighting, especially since there's no guarantee they'll recoup the losses. I buy a few games a year on Steam, almost never at full price. It would take me a very long time to cover any subsidized machine, and I'm surely not the only one.
Honestly, a steam machine was on my radar because for about 10 years now, me and some friends have traveled to Dreamhack Dallas, and packing 5 men and our computer equipment in a big van and driving 13+ hours isn't ideal. Something a bit smaller would be amazing. The price is a bit too rich for me since I do still have a functional computer.