Gaming

Steam Machines were something Valve tried to do back in the early 2010’s. If I remember correctly, it was around the time that Windows 8 was coming out, and Microsoft was making noises that sounded like they wanted to run every game purchase through the Microsoft Store. The same way Apple forces devs to sell iOS apps on the App Store, so Apple can shave a cut off the top of every purchase.

Valve basically went “fuck that with a rusty spike. We’ll just write our own OS instead.” So they started working on Steam Machines, which were meant to be an out-of-the-box solution for steam games. They contracted with established PC builders (like Alienware) to provide machines with set specs, similar to the way console gaming works. The idea was that you’d be able to buy a small MicroATX machine which you could plug into any available screen. Valve was hoping that more players would shift towards playing on TV’s with controllers. Basically, they realized that gamers were split into “desk” (PC) players and “couch” (console) gamers. And prior to Steam Machines, Valve had almost entirely focused on targeting desk gamers. So they figured that if they could move PC gaming to the couch, they could capture the couch gaming market.

This is where the Steam Controller came from, as it was developed to help bridge the gap between controllers and mouse+keyboard games. It’s also where the (now delisted) SteamLink came from, which was basically mirroring Valves desire to capture the couch gaming market.