*** Valve Steam Machine ***

Timber said:
I believe it was very successful for Valve; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Controller
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Well if you had one (like me) then you must have got hit with all the "discounted second controller" stuff appearing on your personal store page on and off for about 2 years? They sent a LOT for disposal which is hardly surprising given how crap they were - both in terms of build standard and operation. About the only thing they got right was haptic feedback.

There's LOTS of controllers on the market & Steam just won't be able to shift them (again) because who uses them as a default controller other than on a console/streamer?

Last time it was the "Steam Link" (or original "Steam Machine"/aka vapourware) they were intended for (it bombed, although it worked quite well), this time its the Steam Machine - with its "dedicated radio for Steam Controllers".

I think you're just looking for an upside to the news ;)
 
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Vestas said:
Well if you had one (like me) then you must have got hit with all the "discounted second controller" stuff appearing on your personal store page on and off for about 2 years? They sent a LOT for disposal which is hardly surprising given how crap they were - both in terms of build standard and operation. About the only thing they got right was haptic feedback.

There's LOTS of controllers on the market & Steam just won't be able to shift them (again) because who uses them as a default controller other than on a console/streamer?

Last time it was the "Steam Link" (or original "Steam Machine"/aka vapourware) they were intended for (it bombed, although it worked quite well), this time its the Steam Machine - with its "dedicated radio for Steam Controllers".

I think you're just looking for an upside to the news ;)
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I did say, I own one and don't really like it. I bought it from GAME in 2015, not long after it came out. Those bits of hardware were Valve's first bit of manufacturing and they've said they learn a lot from it. Which I can believe given how good the Steam Decks controls were.

Do you have a source for Valve putting loads of stock into landfill?
 
Timber said:
Do you have a source for Valve putting loads of stock into landfill?
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Not at this distance in time & it was anecdotal. It came from a guy I knew who worked for Rockstar & then Valve for a while (back at Rockstar last I heard, but not in touch now) and refers to the first generation of controller which apparently they couldn't give away. I have/had one of those - its so bad I needed to go through a dozen batteries to find ones which actually fitted and made a decent contact :D

The second one got shut down a year or two later supposedly because some other hardware project didn't happen. Again anecdotal but it might have been another attempt at a "Steam Machine".

Probably best they did the Deck, all things considered - at least they got decent data on AMD APUs & Proton.
 
I wouldn't have thought they went to landfill, if anything I recall when they were selling them off for a couple of quid to get rid of them, they oversold what they actually had and ended up upsetting people who then didn't get orders fulfilled.
 
Kenai said:
I wouldn't have thought they went to landfill, if anything I recall when they were selling them off for a couple of quid to get rid of them, they oversold what they actually had and ended up upsetting people who then didn't get orders fulfilled.
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That was 2019 yeah? If so that's the second gen controllers IIRC.

Also by "landfill" I mean scrapped, not literally buried like Atari did with their cartridges.
 
Vestas said:
The second one got shut down a year or two later supposedly because some other hardware project didn't happen. Again anecdotal but it might have been another attempt at a "Steam Machine".

Probably best they did the Deck, all things considered - at least they got decent data on AMD APUs & Proton.
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I do think though that there are lots of people that don't want this new Steam Machine, but will want the controller. I can imagine they shift millions, certainly not Xbox, or Dualsense volumes but enough for it to have been successful (ignoring the whole 'Steam' is really their priority and hardware projects don't really matter if they are successful, or not).

I still have that aforementioned controller. I never had the issue with batteries although it's not the easiest when it comes from having to push those levers in and get the batteries out. I should really give it a go again for games like Brotato and BALL x Pit. But I never could like it, or use it the same way I can with the Steam Deck's trackpads.
 
Timber said:
But I never could like it, or use it the same way I can with the Steam Deck's trackpads.
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No argument there although all the female members of the family say its too much of a stretch for Deck controls, whereas I get painful cramp on Switch.
 
Vestas said:
No argument there although all the female members of the family say its too much of a stretch for Deck controls, whereas I get painful cramp on Switch.
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Yea, I can see that. The Deck has to balance a lot of controls crammed into a small space, particularly that d-pad placement. Albeit I do think the trackpad are placed well.

This controller should have less of those issues. I'm looking forward to trying one when they do arrive.

Vestas said:
Well if you had one (like me) then you must have got hit with all the "discounted second controller" stuff appearing on your personal store page on and off for about 2 years?
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Oops, sorry missed this bit. No - I never got that, which is annoying. At least not from what I can remember. I did have a friend that wanted one, but never got around to it and they did start to go sill on secondary markets (I don't know if he got one in the end. I assume the reason I never got the offer is because I bought one retail from the high street, rather than from Valve directly.
 
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Anyone else think the most likely thing to happen now is Valve just outright cancel the Steam Machine rather than release it this year and be unable to manufacture enough of them at a reasonable cost?

Would they rather release a machine that has low performance and a high cost which will review badly and most likely be out of stock most of the time or wait until things settle down then release a Steam Machine that will make more sense performance to price wise and also be able to make enough of them to keep them in stock?
 
lovelyhead said:
Anyone else think the most likely thing to happen now is Valve just outright cancel the Steam Machine rather than release it this year and be unable to manufacture enough of them at a reasonable cost?

Would they rather release a machine that has low performance and a high cost which will review badly and most likely be out of stock most of the time or wait until things settle down then release a Steam Machine that will make more sense performance to price wise and also be able to make enough of them to keep them in stock?
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I think it's a toss up whether it will come out at all, like 50/50.
 
It won't get cancelled. It's not going to sell as well as it would have pre-AI nonsense and they'll be reducing their sales forecasts accordingly no doubt, but it'll still appear because it forms part of the ecosystem with the Steam Frame. Deck and Controller. Considering the insane prices people will pay for other hardware there'll be enough out there who buy it it whatever price just to have another box under the TV.
 
Apparently there are warehouses full of them so doubt it will be cancelled. I doubt they will release it at the price they wanted though.
 
With the state of the RAM market at the moment, it seems like a good idea would be to release a cheaper sku with no memory and let the customer arrange that themselves
 
If they get me an older gen AMD chip, that can take DDR4 so-dimm, I'd happily go for that. :D
No spare laptop DDR5 in my house. :(

The product has essentially been ruined by the market though. Released a year too late.
 
I think we are looking at one of four scenarios.

They could price it affordably by subsidising the price but they will sell out of units quickly and probably won't be able to get enough chips at a low enough price to make more so it would be a paper launch. Seems unlikely.

They could price it high which would mean it would stay in stock for longer and they might be able to get more chips by paying a higher price for them but that will just mean they are selling a high cost low performance machine and not many people will buy it. I think this is the joint most likely scenario alongside the next scenario.

They delay it until next year hoping memory will be cheaper. That brings it a year closer to the launch of the new consoles but they too could also be delayed.

Valve just outright cancels it. Probably not but never say never.
 
lovelyhead said:
I think we are looking at one of four scenarios.

They could price it affordably by subsidising the price but they will sell out of units quickly and probably won't be able to get enough chips at a low enough price to make more so it would be a paper launch. Seems unlikely.

They could price it high which would mean it would stay in stock for longer and they might be able to get more chips by paying a higher price for them but that will just mean they are selling a high cost low performance machine and not many people will buy it. I think this is the joint most likely scenario alongside the next scenario.

They delay it until next year hoping memory will be cheaper. That brings it a year closer to the launch of the new consoles but they too could also be delayed.

Valve just outright cancels it. Probably not but never say never.
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All the scenarios you mention don't give me hope that this machine will sell enough for it to be a success.

Either sell it cheap and then can't get it for that price again so won't really make anymore
Or price it high and don't sell enough.

Either way = low sales = doomed.
 
Raymond Lin said:
All the scenarios you mention don't give me hope that this machine will sell enough for it to be a success.

Either sell it cheap and then can't get it for that price again so won't really make anymore
Or price it high and don't sell enough.

Either way = low sales = doomed.
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I think Valve doomed the Steam Machine to be a niche low volume machine due to their hardware choices and their timing for release.

If they had released it last year with a GPU with at least 16GB RAM at a price point around the PS5 Pro price, I think it would have been a success in the same sort of way the Steam Deck has been. We would have been looking at shortages of the Steam Machine right about now and probably price increases but at least it would have had around a year of being a success.

Now we are looking at an overpriced, underpowered and delayed machine.
 
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