Rumor: Steam Machine $499 with a AMD Radeon R9 270. RIP PS4 And XboxOne If True

[hex]

How big is the market for PC gamers who are enamored with power but too lazy to build their own PC? Thats who this will appeal to.

Thats basically what we are trying to figure out, who is in the market for this machine?

Who was in the market for Steam back in 2003, when digital distribution was damn near considered witch craft?

Like I said earlier in the thread, console gamers sit here all day, every day, asking about PC gaming, virtually every aspect of it. But in this thread everyone is "who would this be marketed to?".

Uh....probably the large chunk of people that want to get into PC gaming, but are intimidated by the learning curve. How many people is that exactly? No idea. But I initially thought Steam was a joke 10 years ago, and now it has 65 million users. So there is no concrete answer on exactly how successful this will, or should, be.

If MS or Sony or whoever catches enough Ls in the console market, they would pull out. Like Sega did. Here's the thing: Valve doesn't have to sell 50 million Steamboxes. This is a side project for them. They're caking off Steam regardless.

Fred.

 

[marcuz]

"Haha, I'm not building some expensive ass gaming PC to play on some small ass monitor" - Console Gamer
"I'm not playing games with KB/M " - Console Gamer
"PC gaming is too hard to set up, it's not convenient if I can't play from my couch" - Console Gamer

*sees SteamBox news/specs*

"Who is this marketed to though?" - Console Gamer

it's not marketed to console gamers with a controller that has no buttons plus i'm saying, does steam have exclusive games?

 

[marcuz]

Uh....probably the large chunk of people that want to get into PC gaming, but are intimidated by the learning curve.

now was that so hard to answer?

 

[GoldenGlove]

im saying though, why. pc gamers tend to shyt on using a controller in favor of keyboard/mouse. plus the majority of pc gamers already have their rigs set up.im trying to see why console gamers would pick this in favor of ps4/xbox when that's where most of the exclusives would go. i just dont understand

I think there's a middle ground here.

This board obviously has shown that people aren't willing to build their own PC for a variety of reasons. The main one being price. So this is an alternative for those people. I mean it's a start, we'll see how it turns out.

 

[hex]

"Haha, I'm not building some expensive ass gaming PC to play on some small ass monitor" - Console Gamer
"I'm not playing games with KB/M " - Console Gamer
"PC gaming is too hard to set up, it's not convenient if I can't play from my couch" - Console Gamer

*sees SteamBox news/specs*

"Who is this marketed to though?" - Console Gamer

This is what I'm saying. There is an obvious interest in something like this, as evidenced by the constant stream of questions from console gamers every day on this board.

Fred.

 

[hex]

now was that so hard to answer?

No offense but it should've been obvious.

Fred.

 

[GoldenGlove]

It's basically a "console" that will be fully customizable to users and not locked down like our traditional consoles.

 

[marcuz]

This is what I'm saying. There is an obvious interest in something like this, as evidenced by the constant stream of questions from console gamers every day on this board.

Fred.

i bet it flops

 

[StatUS]

People talk about exclusive games like Microsoft doesn't have it's own console

 

[Audible101]

No man.

People are paying $1000 for either console. One console. Like I said, check around. This happens every time a new console drops, and there's a shortage.

65 million people use Steam. Do you think they're all computer wizards that built their own rigs? Hell no. So what are you talking about? There's a decent chunk of people that would like to get into PC gaming, and don't know enough to build their own. We answer questions from these types of people all day, on this very board. That's who this is catered to.

Fred.

Look people can pay what they want on ebay or craigslist. Retail is 400 or 500.

I guess that chunk is big enough for valve to tap into i just can't relate to it. How big i guess time will tell. I don't see them taking the avrage gamer, the casual gamer or the hardcore gamer. That Chunk you are talking about is a mix of them all. And i think it will take take for this audience to grow and carve out its on market and ecosystem with the SteamOS.

 

[marcuz]

No offense but it should've been obvious.

Fred.

i think it should be obvious that dudes who say they'd get into PC gaming if it were easier, are lying. we just say that to get you weirdos off our ass it's like y'all wont accept no for an answer, and wont be content until consoles are dead.

 

[MidniteJay]

See I was talking about interest when you said that I realized that most of the games I would play on PC are actually on ps4.

That's the same issue I have.

i bet it flops

I'd throw my entire coli cash that it does.

 

[The_Sheff]

Who was in the market for Steam back in 2003, when digital distribution was damn near considered witch craft?

Like I said earlier in the thread, console gamers sit here all day, every day, asking about PC gaming, virtually every aspect of it. But in this thread everyone is "who would this be marketed to?".

Uh....probably the large chunk of people that want to get into PC gaming, but are intimidated by the learning curve. How many people is that exactly? No idea. But I initially thought Steam was a joke 10 years ago, and now it has 65 million users. So there is no concrete answer on exactly how successful this will, or should, be.

If MS or Sony or whoever catches enough Ls in the console market, they would pull out. Like Sega did. Here's the thing: Valve doesn't have to sell 50 million Steamboxes. This is a side project for them. They're caking off Steam regardless.

Fred.

People who wanted to play PC games. At the time when Steam was introduced PC games were a bytch to deal with. You had CD Keys, driver issues, dwindling retail space, etc....so Steam was a service that was marketed to people who had an interest in PC games.

Now you have to convince console gamers to switch over to this Steambox. Thats a lot more difficult. You gonna sell console gamers a system that doesnt even have Madden? You want me to sign up to play CoD against people using a KB/M while im using a controller? What are the MAINSTREAM exclusives? I dont see any Gears, Uncharted, Halo, type of AAA exclusive mainstream oriented games. So if im gonna buy an XB1 to play the next Gears and Halo, what is the PC offering that will cause me to drop an additional 499 on this Steambox?

 

[marcuz]

People talk about exclusive games like Microsoft doesn't have it's own console

and i'm always quick to bring up M$ is dogshyt when it comes to exclusives.

 

[hex]

People who wanted to play PC games. At the time when Steam was introduced PC games were a bytch to deal with. You had CD Keys, driver issues, dwindling retail space, etc....so Steam was a service that was marketed to people who had an interest in PC games.

Now you have to convince console gamers to switch over to this Steambox. Thats a lot more difficult. You gonna sell console gamers a system that doesnt even have Madden? You want me to sign up to play CoD against people using a KB/M while im using a controller? What are the MAINSTREAM exclusives? I dont see any Gears, Uncharted, Halo, type of AAA exclusive mainstream oriented games. So if im gonna buy an XB1 to play the next Gears and Halo, what is the PC offering that will cause me to drop an additional 499 on this Steambox?

That's basically like saying you don't have a rap career unless you sign to a major. Meanwhile people like Tech N9ne are living in mansions and riding around in paid off Bentleys, completely independent of what is popular in mainstream rap.

You're operating on the assumption that they need any of that to succeed. They don't. They don't need to convince consoles gamers of anything. The ones that are interested in something like this, have been for years.

Here's the thing: this isn't intended to "take out" Sony or MS. If a gaming platform needed "Gears of War" or "Madden" to flourish PC gaming in general wouldn't exist....Steam wouldn't have 65 million users....Valve would be bankrupt because there would be no market. There being a market to sustain Valve, and Steam, to the tune of $3 billion, should be a big ass clue there's a market for Steambox.

Fred.