Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

eekianjo about 3 hours ago 23 commentsRead Article on boilingsteam.com

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Discussion Sentiment

94% Positive

Analyzed from 739 words in the discussion.

Discussion (23 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

mmusc•about 1 hour ago

One interesting point I've seen online is that the steam machine is more of a budget Mac than a pc. As valve controls the whole stack including the OS which creates a very streamlined experience that just works.

Maybe its what will make Linux more mainstream!

Agingcoder•15 minutes ago

Linux has gone mainstream a long time ago - from dvd players to android phones. It just hasn’t succceeded on old preexisting markets ( personal computers ) but has taken large parts of most of the newly created ones ( servers , mobile devices , embedded devices etc )

fendy3002•about 1 hour ago

Yes, sometimes it's difficult to find the correct driver for Linux and set it up. Having steam machine be start and play like steam deck really brings the console feel on PC. Moreover it's still Linux which you can use for other things, so people doesn't feel loss for this.

ekianjo•about 1 hour ago

Valve's vertical control over SteamOS, the UI, and the hardware specs indeed gives the Steam Machine that taste of Mac. Not sure if Apple would have gone for something like that if they ever made a console: one key difference is that Valve keeps it open like a regular PC which is a major benefit to keep the device alive down the road for years to come.

infecto•24 minutes ago

It is great timing in a way. There is a backlash with consoles and now more than ever the energy around AAA studios feels pretty low. You don't need incredible horsepower to play really fun games that still look visually appealing.

ray_v•19 minutes ago

And the price is steep but in my opinion, you really do get a lot of value here - especially with the fact that you instantly pull a ton of your library in seamlessly. If you've been in this ecosystem for a while that's a huge selling-point - or, at least it was for me!

infecto•5 minutes ago

Agree. I suspect others who use steam are thinking the same thing.

When I heard the news for playstation my mind instantly jumped to silly digital prices for games forever. I look at the nintendo switch store and they will sell a digital copy for new retail price for years after even if you can pickup a used copy on ebay for half the price or less.

thewrinklyninja•18 minutes ago

The Nintendo Switch was a great console for pointing that out as well. fun games on older mobile hardware even at the time it came out.

Fire-Dragon-DoL•about 1 hour ago

I got one and I am considering switching everything to SteamOS. Unfortunately I still have nvidia cards around, but the experience is amazing for videogames.

As for the desktop experience, having access to linux is way better than windows.

tenuousemphasis•6 minutes ago

There's an Nvidia branch of Bazzite, and it works great. I'm even surprisingly able to play Star Citizen, which is notoriously finicky.

Havoc•16 minutes ago

Not going to buy one but I am stoked. The more energy flows into Linux gaming the better

laughing_man•26 minutes ago

This is why I would never make it in business. I just don't see the consumer case for buying a Steam Machine. They're too expensive for the console niche they're intended to occupy.

Ronsenshi•24 minutes ago

Consoles are quite expensive too these days. I think if not for the whole AI hypetrain and subsequent chip shortage, price for Steam Machine would have been more friendly.

nvarsj•about 1 hour ago

This assumes Valve isn't artifically bumping up the Steam Machine for more exposure.

lapelusa•about 1 hour ago

Why would we assume otherwise? Valve, with all its flaws, is the one mainstream company that I'm aware of that is consumer friendly and has no issues disclosing real metrics.

serf•20 minutes ago

why would we assume a corporate entity wouldn't manipulate popularity numbers on an owned and unregulated platform that sells their own goods?

https://80.lv/articles/former-valve-developer-claims-steam-l...

owning 'the list' for a thing makes a company, it's why billboard still has any relevance.

hilariously•9 minutes ago

That guy basically saying that sampling bias is the problem, not the company steering numbers for games.

kibwen•about 1 hour ago

This makes no sense. Valve can already just advertise the Steam Machine on the homepage, the page that everyone sees when they open Steam. They don't need to manipulate any rankings on the top-sellers list, the page that no ordinary person regularly looks at.

Onawa•43 minutes ago

Funny enough, I literally looked at the top sellers list last night, for the first time in probably years. I decided to look after I saw Palworld topping the charts, which I thought was interesting since it released early access 2 years ago. Turns out it just released v1.0.

infecto•24 minutes ago

Agree with the rest but I pretty regularly look at the top selling and new & upcoming.

lapelusa•43 minutes ago

Exactly. Plus, Valve is the last company that I know of that IA transparent about metrics.

kibwen•about 2 hours ago

Very interesting, it didn't occur to me that hardware products would show up on Steam's top-sellers list.

At this rate, the Steam Machine will probably turn out to be a modest success. Remember, it's a PC, not a console. Unlike a console, it doesn't need to use hardware sales to convince game developers to ship games for the platform; the PC platform does not depend on the Steam Machine selling like hotcakes. Also unlike a console, Valve isn't selling these at a loss; Sony can sell you hardware at a loss because they claw that money back via online subscriptions and platform licensing fees. Valve will likely be happy enough if they can sell 100,000 by the end of the year, and based on these estimates they may already be about halfway there.

infecto•39 minutes ago

The steam deck has been on the top sellers list on and off for some time now.