How did steam machines fail?

[KirbyOfTheStars]

Steam machines are basically just valve saying "here, take our os and put it onto your computer. now give us money and sell it" but evidently it "failed". But as seen here https://store.steampowered.com/steamos you can still do it?
I'm confused, how exactly did they fail?

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Originally posted by ColdlordX:

Steam machines are basically just valve saying "here, take our os and put it onto your computer. now give us money and sell it" but evidently it "failed". But as seen here https://store.steampowered.com/steamos you can still do it?
I'm confused, how exactly did they fail?

Valve only made about 300 of them and basically gave them away.

3rd party companies made the consumer models.

There is something in the works.

And the old SteamOS is extremely outdated with SteamOS 3 still not ready for prime time.

[Haruspex]

It wasn't even "... now give us money and sell it." They weren't charging any kind of licensing fee at all. Anyone could make a "Steam Machine" and not pay Valve a dime. Valve was banking on these things taking off, bringing in more Steam users, who in turn would spend money on Steam.

It failed because it didn't take off, and it didn't take off because gaming on Linux just wasn't ready yet. All these third parties also had no stake in the success of Steam Machines, so they absolutely had to make a profit on hardware sales, which meant they were largely priced out of the typical console-gaming demographic.

The Steam Deck is basically attempt #2. Linux gaming via Proton is much, MUCH better now. Valve is just making and selling them themselves so they can really get that price way down and make up the lack of profit there with software sales. Valve also has a real personal stake in the success of the thing, which helps a lot there. Compared to attempt #1, Valve has more experience designing and manufacturing hardware than they did before thanks to their efforts with the Steam Controller and the Index. This experience allows them to maximize the good and minimize the bad, learning from their mistakes.

[RSebire]

When support for Windows 10 ends, I will be installing SteamOS on my home PC instead.

A totally silent gaming pc with 64GB of memory, and an i7 to power it along.

A Steam Machine in anything other than name.

Thank you Valve for taking on the monster that is Microsoft, in the ever deprecating operating systems market.

Its one of the only innovations in personal computers in a decade or more.

[GuudBooi]

If they ever make a budget computer that in terms of value is even remotely similiar to a steam deck, that stuff is gonna be probably the main pre-build computer pick for anyone that would switch to pc gaming.

[KirbyOfTheStars]

Originally posted by GuudBooi:

If they ever make a budget computer that in terms of value is even remotely similiar to a steam deck, that stuff is gonna be probably the main pre-build computer pick for anyone that would switch to pc gaming.

Thats what they wanted people to do with SteamOS
Install it on a computer and sell it

[AQQABALAH ASPYRANT]

Originally posted by GuudBooi:

If they ever make a budget computer that in terms of value is even remotely similiar to a steam deck, that stuff is gonna be probably the main pre-build computer pick for anyone that would switch to pc gaming.

Yeah, that's a very exciting idea. A computer that games could be optimized for, like I think some devs optimize for Steam Deck now. It's gonna be a revolution.

[xBCxRangers]

It was before their time. I bought an Alienware Alpha from Dell about 5 or more years ago, and even with a Win 10 desktop, many of the games i wanted to play had no controller support. I sent it back.

Today, with this emulator, seemingly "any" game is controller compatible. And so if one came out today, i'd buy it.

But the truth of it is, many of these games are coming over to console anyway, and the ones that aren't, can be played on a console thru Ge Force Now. That's how i play PC Games.

[Blupanda]

The biggest reason for its failure is SteamOS. The Linux community is very small, most people don’t like it. Shame that Valve does not make pre-installed Windows as an option for Steam Deck. Sales would be even higher.

[Tito Shivan]

I wouldn't say they 'failed' because they weren't even a thing to begin with. They were mostly Valve entertaining ideas, not like there never was a real push to it. Of course as anything Valve people hyped them out of orbit, but they never were more than a 'special edition shoes'.

I consider the first real 'Stream Machine' is the Steam Deck, which is doing well.

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by 8bitbeard:

It failed because it didn't take off, and it didn't take off because gaming on Linux just wasn't ready yet.

Linux still is not ready for gaming yet.
At the moment valve only provides a fancy workaround to get your games running on it, which may help but nativ developed games would be much better....if they would sell at all.

[NuLife]

Originally posted by Blupanda:

The biggest reason for its failure is SteamOS. The Linux community is very small, most people don’t like it. Shame that Valve does not make pre-installed Windows as an option for Steam Deck. Sales would be even higher.

the steam deck dont need windows, it does extremely well with what it was mainly designed for playing..... steam games

[Lystent]

Originally posted by Blupanda:

The biggest reason for its failure is SteamOS. The Linux community is very small, most people don’t like it. Shame that Valve does not make pre-installed Windows as an option for Steam Deck. Sales would be even higher.

Looks like there is a small move towards the opposite direction; people are getting fed up enough with microsoft's antics that they are switching to linux. As someone who builds his own towers, but has very little linux experience (just whatever was available for the raspberry pi), Steam OS is on my radar, and I might refer to it, should it be available as an install for a custom rig, should I ever give up on windows.

[ReBoot]

Steam machines never had a raison d'etre to begin with. The idea of a HTPC ain't new, the idea of a prebuilt HTPC ain't new. They failed because they were another "me too" product. A nice idea, certainly one that looks good in a vacuum, but soo doesn't make sense when faced with reality. Not for the prices they were going for, anyway.

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by Lystent:

Originally posted by Blupanda:

The biggest reason for its failure is SteamOS. The Linux community is very small, most people don’t like it. Shame that Valve does not make pre-installed Windows as an option for Steam Deck. Sales would be even higher.

Looks like there is a small move towards the opposite direction; people are getting fed up enough with microsoft's antics that they are switching to linux.

Wonder how many of them switched back to Windows after they found Hardware they might have not/only partially working, as a lot have no Linux drivers.

[Xedhadeaus]

Honestly it was the community rightfully.
A lot of users (myself included) made sure people didn't get squeezed by buying a box with laptop specs for the same price. Just like steam deck, a lot of people might not buy anything else, so if they were to buy something, they'd have been better off buying a laptop.

I do think that the standardized nature of the Steam Deck allows targeted performance to be handled. If it's a yellow or green mark, you're typically fine. And I'm not sure if there was even a standard for it. And if the Steam Deck subreddit is any indication... people of all shapes and sizes are all looking for something that those machines may or may not have been able to do.