They upgraded the steam deck already. And the steam machine already failed once. I just don’t think that there exists a console that is high end enough and also cheap enough that pc enthusiasts are interested. I saw a prototype of an old steam machine and just the reactive halo light thingy is seriously so damn cool, but console people look at that and think: well a ps5 is only 600 dollars. PC players look at it and think: i could build something better for cheaper.
Steam machines were a long time ago. They could build something they can sell for $500-600 today, that can play any modern game at a decent frame rate. The console people will appreciate the huge game library and relative absence of enshittification. PC people will appreciate the simplicity. Obviously, people who build their own PCs won’t be interested, but that still leaves a huge addressable market.
AMD just launched the 9700 and 9700XT earlier this year, with MSRP’s of $550 and $600. They’ve faced a ton of consumer backlash because MSRP cards were virtually nonexistent. Most of the graphics cards actually produced were retailed for hundreds of dollars more, and many were then scalped on top of that.
NVIDIA has been even worse, just cranking up their prices with very little performance improvement. Tons of issues with their power connectors damaging cards. Most of the company’s focus has been on AI, and gamers have been left out to dry.
So yeah I think now would be a terrible time for a steam machine. Unless Valve can somehow get their hands on some unreasonably cheap silicon.
The PS5 has sold over 80 million units. Even the miserable Xbox Series has over 28 million units sold.
All use custom AMD APU’s. Valve is more than an order of magnitude away from even competing with Sony. And we haven’t even touched on laptops yet.
But also compared to desktops… I can’t find how much AMD in particular did, but I can see that 251 million desktop GPU’s were sold in 2024. I don’t know how many Deck’s were sold in 2024 by comparison, but given that the total fron the 2021 launch to early 2025 is estimated at 4 million units on the high side, it’s not even blip on the radar. It’s not a statistically significant amount. The Deck is absolutely miniscule in comparison.
That’s all true but doesn’t in any way contradict my point. AMD were happy to work with Valve on the APU for the deck and now the concept is proven, they’ll be even more happy to do it again.
They upgraded the steam deck already. And the steam machine already failed once. I just don’t think that there exists a console that is high end enough and also cheap enough that pc enthusiasts are interested. I saw a prototype of an old steam machine and just the reactive halo light thingy is seriously so damn cool, but console people look at that and think: well a ps5 is only 600 dollars. PC players look at it and think: i could build something better for cheaper.
a screen rivaling 2013 phones when
Steam machines were a long time ago. They could build something they can sell for $500-600 today, that can play any modern game at a decent frame rate. The console people will appreciate the huge game library and relative absence of enshittification. PC people will appreciate the simplicity. Obviously, people who build their own PCs won’t be interested, but that still leaves a huge addressable market.
What gives you this idea?
AMD just launched the 9700 and 9700XT earlier this year, with MSRP’s of $550 and $600. They’ve faced a ton of consumer backlash because MSRP cards were virtually nonexistent. Most of the graphics cards actually produced were retailed for hundreds of dollars more, and many were then scalped on top of that.
NVIDIA has been even worse, just cranking up their prices with very little performance improvement. Tons of issues with their power connectors damaging cards. Most of the company’s focus has been on AI, and gamers have been left out to dry.
So yeah I think now would be a terrible time for a steam machine. Unless Valve can somehow get their hands on some unreasonably cheap silicon.
Once you buy a few million of things, the problems of retail customers don’t tend to apply.
The Steam Deck, in all its variants, has sold under 4 million units as of February .
The PS5 has sold over 80 million units. Even the miserable Xbox Series has over 28 million units sold.
All use custom AMD APU’s. Valve is more than an order of magnitude away from even competing with Sony. And we haven’t even touched on laptops yet.
But also compared to desktops… I can’t find how much AMD in particular did, but I can see that 251 million desktop GPU’s were sold in 2024. I don’t know how many Deck’s were sold in 2024 by comparison, but given that the total fron the 2021 launch to early 2025 is estimated at 4 million units on the high side, it’s not even blip on the radar. It’s not a statistically significant amount. The Deck is absolutely miniscule in comparison.
That’s all true but doesn’t in any way contradict my point. AMD were happy to work with Valve on the APU for the deck and now the concept is proven, they’ll be even more happy to do it again.