4w ago

If Valve creates an "entry point" for living room PCs, the console-beating Steam Machines will follow, argues Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director

www.rockpapershotgun.com If Valve creates an "entry point" for living room PCs, the console-beating Steam Machines will follow, argues Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director

The Steam Machine doesn't need to be console-beating if you already own a desktop, it's made to satisfy a different niche.

If Valve creates an "entry point" for living room PCs, the console-beating Steam Machines will follow, argues Baldur's Gate 3's publishing director

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Relevant part of the article.
Larian Studio's Publishing Director Michael Douse took to Twitter to argue Valve aren't looking to make a device that exceeds the power of the consoles, they're making a baseline. "They're probably betting on the fact that anyone who wants more demanding PC hardware on their TV is part of the audience who know how to turn any PC into a Steam Machine," Douse argues.
[…] Douse says, Valve are setting a baseline. "If Valve can once again normalise and thus create that entry point there is potential for big growth in that new market". Once Gabe and his kin establish a baseline, other companies, such as ASUS and Lenovo, can roll in with their more powerful machines.
- I think he's absolutely right, and I hope Valve has considered this (and they probably have). This needs to be a door-opener, not a powerhouse.
  
  Most definitely.
  Valve's main success here will be establishing SteamOS as a de facto replacement for some 60-70% of PCs. Hell, I've built a gaming PC a little over a year ago, and am still running Windows on it, but only for one reason: no first party support from SteamOS.
  Once that's sorted... My need for Windows will disappear basically, aside from the very occasional ancient Windows utility I might need to use (old Rockchip flashing tools come to mind), but those usually run quite well enough in a VM.
  Make a baseline Steam Machine, let people adapt their PCs to it easily, and you won over the gaming market. Expand that with support for third party launcher integration and you've literally got every single fanboy, gamer, etc., on your platform.
  
  am still running Windows on it, but only for one reason: no first party support from SteamOS.
  For the most part, it SteamOS isn't really necessary to get a serviceable desktop gaming experience. Pick a well-supported rolling release distro or a derivative, install Steam and Proton, and games mostly just work.
  It's not perfect, but it's usable. The only real pain point around gaming is getting HDR working properly.
  Closed-source software is a different story, however. Discord's Wayland support is basically nonexistent and the AFK detection thinks you're always in front of the computer, suppressing mobile notifications.
  
  Actually, you can get most of Valve's work without SteamOS. I'm running Mint and it works great.
  
  Actually, that's not what I want or need.
  First party support here needs to include system drivers (including GPU) from primary sources (aka no "just add this repo and install this DKMS and run that installer", it should work OOTB for the most common hardware).
  
  Bazzite did that for me. Installing and getting a game up and running took me 20 minutes. No fuzz. All drivers and software self update.
  
  That's what has happened to me. I haven't installed a single driver yet, in about a year.
  But I dunno. Maybe I just won the lottery.
  
  I'll give it a go sometimes, but the AMD CPU + Nvidia GPU combo wasn't exactly winner the last time I tried.
  
  Yeah, that might not work as well. I'm on a Framework laptop that hasn't been modified much.
  
  Of course they have considered it. It is literally their model for handheld form factor gaming laptops (aka "Steam Deck"). And it is what they tried with round 1 of Steam Machines.
  The real problem is going to be... all the problems that those of us with a Linux HTPC have. Streaming of media won't be a thing since most services have DRM that relies on HDCP handshakes these days. Also people are going to learn the fun way why that AMD setup only supports "HDMI 2.0" (although there are workarounds to get most 2.1 functionality out of a display port adapter). Let alone just general weirdness that tends to not come up when everything is one integrated device.
  Consoles have gone a LONG way towards ruining "it just works". But I spent an hour or so yesterday finally flashing my display port dongle and it involved a second device to SSH into my HTPC and, in the process, I ended up needing to re-pair my xbox controller afterwards. I am used to that kind of bullshit and think it is fun. The first time that happens to someone you can expect all of social media to start caring that GabeN is a weird rich lunatic and insisting that Kojima-san and Sony will fix everything with the PS6 or whatever bullshit.
  
  Streaming of media won't be a thing since most services have DRM that relies on HDCP handshakes these days.
  Can you elaborate? I can listen to streamed music from streaming apps, I watch streamed videos via YouTube or other platforms like dropout or beacon, and I host a jellyfin server in a debian box which I then watch in my endeavour desktop no problem. I also stream sometimes via discord or twitch to me friends.
  Which "Streaming media" am I missing?
  
  Basically all the services more oriented at TV/movies (Amazon, Max, probably the movies you can buy on Youtube, etc) all tend to either lock all content behind an HDCP handshake or higher resolution streams.
  So you might be able to watch the latest Glenn Howerton movie on your linux HTPC but it will be a lower res stream with no HDR or surround sound. It is a very known problem that sheepishly comes up any time someone asks about how they can build their own nvidia shield or whatever.
  
  Oh, well... I usually prefer to watch those with an eye covered if you catch my drift...
  Either that or we use our androidTV TV to watch them in the proper app.
  In all fairness, it IS a valid issue, yet more minor than how you presented it xD. But yeah, it sucks if you want to have a Linux home cinema instead of using the smart tv, agreed.
  
  The PS3, in large part, sold because it was THE best blu ray player out there. At a time when games on the Sony were actively worse than any other platform (because the CBE was a mofo for third parties), the PS3 was heavily buoyed by it weirdly being one of the cheapest blu ray players out there. And the PS2 was a REALLY good DVD player which heavily contributed to its market dominance.
  For people who already have an AVR and are used to doing all their own infrastructure, it matters less. For people who essentially plug one box into the one "good" port on their TV? When there is one 1k USD box that can only do games and one 1k USD box that does games and netflix and youtube and disney plus?
  It might not be a huge deal in the long run (especially with TVs having a lot of this functionality built in) but it is a talking point with no good answers. And that impacts the idea of it being "an entry point".
  And, just to add on. Apps are INCREDIBLY important to the average person... and most power users. Just look at the various attempts to spin up a "free" phone whether it is Graphene or Linux Phones or whatever. People get started going through and might even figure out they can do 90% of what they actually do on the non-google solution. Then they realize they can't log-in to their credit card's app (which the companies more or less require you to auth with if you are calling them because they disabled your card before sending a new one...). And you can't log into your kid's daycare's camera system. And you can't watch AEW on the shitter. And so forth.
  Which is why google is actively preventing sideloading and working with those apps to lock them into google play services. And you can bet the solution they come up with to continue to allow sideloading will further lock in the GP services side of things.
- Larian proving again and again, that they get it.
- Except we've already seen that, despite the success of the Steam Deck, those companies aren't interested. Of the seemingly hundred handheld devices, there's only a single one sold with SteamOS, and the subsequent one excluded it as well. In fact, ASUS doubled down on Windows with their latest handheld.

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