The video game industry is on the rise due to the arrival of a ”new competitor” for Sony and Microsoft with their PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, even targeting their future devices in the next generation,
Steam Deck won’t be alone from 2026, as Valve has announced its own consolidated desktop PC, steam enginenext to Steam Controller (a new controller) and the VR headset Steam Frame.
What is a steam engine? We can define it as a minicomputer powered by SteamOS and intended for gaming. AND 6 times more powerful than a Steam Deckand it could run games at 4K and 60 FPS… although not in all cases.
Valve is also facing the problem of kernel-based anti-cheat software, though it expects EA, Activision and other developers to rethink its use to make their games work on the Steam Machine.
Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business, revealed a fact interesting about Valve and what they should improve with their new ”console” if you don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the Steam Deck.
It also defines the two groups of people who will buy the Steam Machine at launch, which is certainly not the same type of audience that bets on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch 2.
Steam Machine will seek to attract new console users
It’s not the first time Valve has made the leap into the world of consoles, but the only precedent isn’t good for them. It was in 2015 with multiple Steam Machine models (nothing to do with what was presented this week).
With these devices They barely surpassed 300,000 or 400,000 units sold worldwide. On the other hand, with the Steam Deck they managed to position themselves as leaders in the portable PC market.
Steam Deck has been sold between 4 and 5 million unitsbut Dring reveals his big problem: Only managed to attract 10% of new users for the Steam platform.
In other words, 90% of Steam Deck users by 2024 (that’s when this information was revealed) They have already used Steam before purchasing the device, then technically they are not “new users”. And this could be a problem for the Steam Machine.
With the Steam Machine, Valve needs an affordable product, a robust marketing campaign, and full third-party support. Maybe they can even form an “alliance” with Xbox, but things could be different with PlayStation.
For now, Dring sees two possible markets for steam engine: regular PC gamers (on Steam) who wish to continue playing beyond their teams, and those former PC gamers who switched to consoles to avoid settings.
Of course, the situation is nothing like it was in 2015. Now Steam users have Huge libraries exceeding $90 billion in valueand 10 years ago it was not even a tenth of that value.
The question is: will the Steam Machine be able to look the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in the eye? It seems complicated, but it can certainly influence the new conception of what a console is and what it is not. And then Microsoft must act quickly.
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