Valve Announces SteamOS

Here's a comment from another site I found pretty damn insightful that sums this situation up beautifully:

People need to stop and realize the historically poor economics and profitability of Linux to understand why the experience has been hindered in recent years. Yes, drivers have been historically bad for Linux where graphics adapters and gaming are concerned.

AMD/Nvidia’s target market doesn’t overwhelmingly demand linux support.
…and the gamers don’t demand it because there aren’t many games for the platform.
…and there aren’t many games for the platform because the driver support sucks and they likely wouldn’t sell many copies since the platform lacks gamers.

It’s a vicious cycle that requires at least one of these elements to change before the ecosystem begins to mature. Nobody is willing to take the first step because it’s almost certainly unprofitable for themselves to make that initial investment. Nvidia doesn’t want to waste developer hours on writing a fully optimized linux driver if it’s just going to be used by less than 1% of their target market. The industry is too competitive to allow breathing room for philanthropic development.

Valve is breaking the cycle by getting the platform attractive to every single party involved. They’re attracting the hardware OEMs by making the platform optimized, and investing lots of their own cash into the OS — also making the experience familiar and easy to use (something Linux doesn’t really have going for it currently).

They get the gamers into the fold with backwards compatibility (through the Windows steam client streaming feature) and content services. They’re presumably releasing cheaper thin clients primarily for streaming content from your Windows system.

Finally, they can attract the game developers by the fruits of their labor with the hardware OEMs, demonstrating that the platform has begun to mature from a development platform standpoint – and that there will be an established install-base of gamers who are steadily adopting the platform.
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DPI said:
Here's a comment from another site I found pretty damn insightful that sums this situation up beautifully:
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Nvidia after being blocked out of the console market for the next 5-10 years would be in their interest to go all in supporting this. In fact Project Stealth is a place shifter for the PC in a portable package. SteamOS sounds like its going to support PC place-shifting to the livingroom. I wouldn't be surprised if Project Stealth was a sister project to nvidia's support of Valve's place-shifter hardware.
 
riot8ap said:
My prediction...

1. The SteamBox will let you play indie-developed casual games (think Android/iOS gaming market) with no other accessories required. You can purchase titles for similar cost to Android/iOS market and also play free games, some of which are free to play but use credit to purchase in-game goods.
2.The SteamBox will let you play streamed AAA titles if you happen to own a high-performance Windows PC.

I don't see how else this could play out given the arduous task of asking top developers to please please please release a Linux version. I'm also OK with all of this.
Click to expand...

Hmm, pretty astute.

Also I see a built in benchmark and "games for SteamOS" will have a bench mark score minimum. So the end user can gauge will game X run on their home brew steambox.

I think there will be a high popularity of ITX type form factor kits with AMD Fusion on one end of the spectrum and say Tegra4 on the other that is labeled "SteamOS Ready".
This puts the concept of "build your own gaming console" into a lot of people hands.
 
This is going to carry some weight also:

" the Linux version runs faster than the Windows version seems a little counter-intuitive, given the greater amount of time we have spent on the Windows version. However, it does speak to the underlying efficiency of the kernel and OpenGL," Valve’s Linux team wrote in a blog entry.

This is concerning the porting of Left 4 Dead 2 earlier this year.
Side by side comparisons, the game running on Linux on is faster than windows.

I'm wondering if this initial testing was done on a bloated and worthless crap laden Ubuntu distro. Likely the same test will be FASTER on the purpose built SteamOS.
 
dalearyous said:
has anyone thrown around the idea of SteamOS playing VERY nicely with Oculus Rift?

SteamOS + HL3 + Oculus Rift = Gabe takes over the world.

in all seriousness though, this article is worth reading.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/09/analysis-can-steamos-drag-the-pc-game-industry-over-to-linux/
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Wow, interesting article.

I would make HL3 a SteamOS exclusive. What a game title only for a proprietary platform? Unheard of! (LOL! Ever heard of consoles?)
If you want to play it, here is your -free- OS to do so.


I think much of the debate from here on out will have to be left to game developers.
Which is preferred both being equal? Regardless of install base; is it easier to develop a game for linux or windows?

I remember reading John Cormack complain how dreadful it is to develop windows game titles using DX, and how it was holding back real innovation in design.

The trouble has always been it is a simple calculation. Linux= 2% of desktops. Big name game companies see that as a waste of time. With SteamOS this calculation changes.

Are the doors of paradise swinging open? We will see.......... ;)
 
Dr. Righteous said:
Wow, interesting article.

I would make HL3 a SteamOS exclusive. What a game title only for a proprietary platform? Unheard of! (LOL! Ever heard of consoles?)
If you want to play it, here is your -free- OS to do so.


I think much of the debate from here on out will have to be left to game developers.
Which is preferred both being equal? Regardless of install base; is it easier to develop a game for linux or windows?

I remember reading John Cormack complain how dreadful it is to develop windows game titles using DX, and how it was holding back real innovation in design.

The trouble has always been it is a simple calculation. Linux= 2% of desktops. Big name game companies see that as a waste of time. With SteamOS this calculation changes.

Are the doors of paradise swinging open? We will see.......... ;)
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I would consider doing this on a spare, unused computer. However, there is NO WAY I am going to wipe my main and only computer and home and put this on it. (My main machine with Windows 8.1 Pro works and works well at that.

Of course, I have an FX 8350 so I have read they are even faster under Linux. Maybe I will just pop a blank harddrive into it, unhook all others and install it on that for fun. :D
 
What if they gave HL3 away free with SteamOS? Think that would get it on a few people's PCs?

I can see this happening with Valve. It wouldn't be the first free game they gave away.
 
vikingod said:
What if they gave HL3 away free with SteamOS? Think that would get it on a few people's PCs?

I can see this happening with Valve. It wouldn't be the first free game they gave away.
Click to expand...

That is actually a smart idea. Release HL3 for all platforms at once but free with a Steambox or heavy discount for SteamOS...
 
vikingod said:
What if they gave HL3 away free with SteamOS? Think that would get it on a few people's PCs?

I can see this happening with Valve. It wouldn't be the first free game they gave away.
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Free makes no sense for a game that would normally sell for $50-60 (unless they have an in-game revenue stream planned) ... an exclusivity window makes far more sense ... make it exclusively SteamOS for 6 months ... then release for Windows and consoles simultaneously ;)
 
vikingod said:
What if they gave HL3 away free with SteamOS? Think that would get it on a few people's PCs?

I can see this happening with Valve. It wouldn't be the first free game they gave away.
Click to expand...

that is what the article suggested ...

and if you read the article kbrickley, scratch that you did because the exclusive window makes the most sense. heck, eve 3 months early people would switch.

i don't get people complaining about "wiping my machine to set this OS up" ... so many people dual boot. i am all in for rebooting my PC into "gaming mode" IF the payoff is there: oculus rift games, or much better performance, or SteamOS exclusive titles. but, i admit i am super comfortable with linux so
 
dalearyous said:
that is what the article suggested ...

and if you read the article kbrickley, scratch that you did because the exclusive window makes the most sense. heck, eve 3 months early people would switch.

i don't get people complaining about "wiping my machine to set this OS up" ... so many people dual boot. i am all in for rebooting my PC into "gaming mode" IF the payoff is there: oculus rift games, or much better performance, or SteamOS exclusive titles. but, i admit i am super comfortable with linux so
Click to expand...

I know what dual boot is. :rolleyes::D However, dual booting with Windows 8, although it works, is not something I want to do. I do not want to add time to my boot just so I can wait for the menu timer to count down.

Also, I used an SSD Cache drive with Dataplex so I cannot dual boot anyways. (The Dataplex software does not support dual booting or anything other than Windows.)
 
I can't see Valve releasing HL3 for free on steam OS, but I can see it being included for free with a steam box purchase as a launch title.
 
DPI said:
Here's a comment from another site I found pretty damn insightful that sums this situation up beautifully:
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The problem with the article is that Valve is addressing the concern with Windows games by assuming you're willing to run another computer with a Windows OS. Which is absurd considering who's going to run two computers to play one game. With Nvidia's shield it makes some sense, considering it's a portable device.

This is because Wine is a huge problem on Linux. There's many solutions to address the performance and compatibility with playing Windows games on Linux, but none seem to get accepted by the Wine developers. Mesa and gallium3d can use state trackers, which can add new functionality to graphic drivers. Someone had tried to write DX10/11 to Linux, but failed a few years ago. There is a DX9 state tracker that works, and the developer from Nouveau even got code working on Wine.

The state tracker would address the performance issues with running Windows games on Linux, but there's a lot of opposition.

#1 It requires open source drivers, and Intel's open source driver doesn't work. Only AMD's and Nvidia's open source driver works, but the proprietary driver doesn't work.

#2 It's not cross platform. Specifically this wouldn't work on Mac.

#3 Most Linux die hard enthusiasts would rather see games ported to Linux running OpenGL. So to see Direct 3D natively implemented into Linux is making them angry. even though older games would never get ported, no matter what they think.

Realistically to be able to stream Windows games to Linux would not solve anything. It's easier to just run Windows on 1 computer and be done, and have 0 latency issues. The only way this would work is to have Windows games running directly on Linux.
 
you guys really need to watch gabe giving this keynote last week. it will answer a lot of questions and clear up a lot of misconceptions im reading in this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gzn6E2m3otg

a few i'll clear up.

hes been working with his aaa publishers that are already on steam for a couple of years on this already as well as amd and NVidia

this was mostly motivated by closed app stores and their processes of rolling out software and patches. which makes sense, he runs an app store with steam. a built in competitor SHOULD piss him off.

but watch the keynote. its worth the 10 or so minutes for the full story on his motivations
 
Trying to get DX10/DX11 games to run on Linux is the wrong approach. If Linux gaming is ever going to take off, it needs games with native support. Most people suspect Valve has a substantial amount of cash on hand from Steam, for this to happen they may need to subsidize game development to get it native on Steam OS.
 
whoops forgot to add that his publishers said their biggest barrier was that there was not a really good debugger for developer on Linux. so gabe threw some of his developers on fixing that problem based on commitments from his publishing partners. this ones kind of a huge deal. I means valve has been deep into Linux development for a while at this point. id venture to say at least a couple of years.
 
dalearyous said:
that is what the article suggested ...

and if you read the article kbrickley, scratch that you did because the exclusive window makes the most sense. heck, eve 3 months early people would switch.

i don't get people complaining about "wiping my machine to set this OS up" ... so many people dual boot. i am all in for rebooting my PC into "gaming mode" IF the payoff is there: oculus rift games, or much better performance, or SteamOS exclusive titles. but, i admit i am super comfortable with linux so
Click to expand...

Yeah, I read it ... I was speaking from a business perspective ... Valve and Steam survive as long as they make profits (and I want both to prosper for my big Steam library to stay viable :) ) ... there is some strategic benefit to them converting folks to a new OS but not enough for them to give up their #1 cash cow (the mythical Half Life 3) to achieve this goal when they could do the same thing without such a draconian approach ...

I am not an enormous fan of free software since I think it is a dangerous business model long term for the user as it promotes Freemium and Pay to Win models ... I always prefer to pay something for software since I know programmers have to eat and I don't like to do any more IAPs than absolutely necessary (what the best price for software should be is definitely debatable, but free would NOT be my first choice) ;)
 
Why wouldn't they release HL3 free on SteamOS?

There's huge cash generating potential in being the go-to platform for any media (look at iTunes, app/play store, etc). This potential far exceeds the money Valve could make from any one game, even one as big as HL3.

But I think the primary motivation behind SteamOS is that it allows Valve (and software / game developers) to have more control and influence over the destiny of PC gaming. We all know how Gabe feels about Windows 8 and the concerns he has for the industry because of it. It's a potentially huge win for Valve to create their own OS. It does have it's risks (monetarily); however I bet Valve is looking at the implications of Windows 8 as a far bigger risk to the company's long-term viability.

Assuming the OS is good, getting people to use it over Windows is the greatest obstacle they face and free HL3 will really go a long way to solving this. After that, the developers will go where the gamers are.

I think now is the time to do it. I don't get a sense of a strong love of Windows by anyone. I bet many people here only use WIndows because that's where their games are. If there was a viable alternative, and a totally free, highly customizable one at that, who wouldn't jump ship?
 
vikingod said:
Why wouldn't they release HL3 free on SteamOS?

There's huge cash generating potential in being the go-to platform for any media (look at iTunes, app/play store, etc). This potential far exceeds the money Valve could make from any one game, even one as big as HL3.

I think now is the time to do it. I don't get a sense of a strong love of Windows by anyone. I bet many people here only use WIndows because that's where their games are. If there was a viable alternative, and a totally free, highly customizable one at that, who wouldn't jump ship?
Click to expand...

this! apple does make tons from their devices but its iTunes that changed everything, not the first ipod. Valve is probably looking to do the same.

i am not sure i would say many people use windows because that is where there games are. it still dominates the business world and most average homes. but if the OS offers a smooth UI and isn't touted as a desktop replacement then sure. if it is touted as that, then it better have some office suite and support for printers etc
 
oh, and if installing the OS is as easy as, lets say, installing windows on a mac through boot camp (you just follow prompts and stick windows disc in when it tells you) then it could be amazing.
 
vikingod said:
Why wouldn't they release HL3 free on SteamOS?
Click to expand...

Why should they? It's just as effective to release HL3 exclusive to Steam and charge money. By Steam I mean Windows Mac and Linux. Would be computer exclusive. Obviously HL3 would perform best on SteamOS.
 
03grandam said:
The same way console makers have been doing it for many years now. If it's a highly anticipated title then some people will do what ever it takes to be able to play it. If you can buy a system with SteamOS pre installed and ready to game on, Steam box, and it's cheap enough then they might also be able to get little Jimmy to talk his parents into getting him one.
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But again, how is Valve benefitting? Regardless of whether you're buying on Windows, OS X, Linux, or for SteamOS, Valve's making the same amount of money. The only way Valve can really benefit is if they're getting a larger cut to distribute over SteamOS or if they're aimed to monetize on peripherals like controllers. They may well do so, but I don't foresee them doing it in such a way that those peripherals wouldn't at least work — and be marketed as working — on Windows PCs, Linux PCs and potentially on Macs as well.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo benefit from exclusivity as it brings people into exclusive ecosystems. There is no such exclusivity implicit in SteamOS: it's just a multi-platform content distribution system.

rudy said:
Or it could mean bad things as developers look at the PC market and say. well some portion are now on Linux so instead of me needing to ready my game just for windows I now need to ready it for windows and Linux, hmm, not worth it bye.
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"Need"? Why would developers "need" to do anything? They're going to continue to go after the markets in which they feel they can profit on their efforts. Maybe that includes SteamOS; maybe it doesn't. I'm aware of nothing that dictates that they distribute on all Steam-ready platforms.
 
dalearyous said:
this! apple does make tons from their devices but its iTunes that changed everything, not the first ipod. Valve is probably looking to do the same.

i am not sure i would say many people use windows because that is where there games are. it still dominates the business world and most average homes. but if the OS offers a smooth UI and isn't touted as a desktop replacement then sure. if it is touted as that, then it better have some office suite and support for printers etc
Click to expand...

LibreOfffice currrently on Linux is more than enough for Home use. I pass on the $10 copy of MS Office I could get from work. It isn't worth $10 to me to use it over LibreOffice.
 
dalearyous said:
oh, and if installing the OS is as easy as, lets say, installing windows on a mac through boot camp (you just follow prompts and stick windows disc in when it tells you) then it could be amazing.
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Window 8 UEFI boot signing might have something to say about that.
I tried a Linux Live CD on a WIndows 8 laptop and gave up.

I'm sure Microsoft will have more stumbling blocks they will whip up.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
This is going to carry some weight also:

" the Linux version runs faster than the Windows version seems a little counter-intuitive, given the greater amount of time we have spent on the Windows version. However, it does speak to the underlying efficiency of the kernel and OpenGL," Valve’s Linux team wrote in a blog entry.

This is concerning the porting of Left 4 Dead 2 earlier this year.
Side by side comparisons, the game running on Linux on is faster than windows.

I'm wondering if this initial testing was done on a bloated and worthless crap laden Ubuntu distro. Likely the same test will be FASTER on the purpose built SteamOS.
Click to expand...
Might want to go back and re-read that blog post, because their comparisons are a bit skewed.

They're comparing a version of the rendering engine built for DirectX9 (an API who's last major update came out in 2004) to a brand-spanking-new rendering engine based on a fairly recent version of OpenGL. No shit the newer one performed better.

The Windows (DX9) rendering engine clocked in at 270.6 FPS
The Linux (OpenGL) rendering engine clocked in at 315 FPS

But then they go on to say that they threw together a quick build of the OpenGL rendering engine for Windows. Instant improvement, the Windows version suddenly pulled in 303.4 FPS.

They say they optimized the Linux version heavily (it started out running at only ~6 FPS) to get it up to that 315 FPS figure, and that's the version they actually care about optimizing. I have no doubt that the OpenGL renderer could be just as fast or faster on Windows with the same TLC put into it.

And then there's the option of using DirectX 10 or DirectX 11, which could provide even more performance gains on Windows compared to the ancient DirectX9 renderer they're using today.
 
jpm100 said:
Window 8 UEFI boot signing might have something to say about that.
I tried a Linux Live CD on a WIndows 8 laptop and gave up.
Click to expand...
Disable SecureBoot in the UEFI if you want to run Linux distros that don't support SecureBoot.

jpm100 said:
I'm sure Microsoft will have more stumbling blocks they will whip up.
Click to expand...
Microsoft requires all systems sold with Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro to have the option to disable SecureBoot in the UEFI in order to pass Windows Logo Certification.
 
Ashbringer said:
Why should they? It's just as effective to release HL3 exclusive to Steam and charge money. By Steam I mean Windows Mac and Linux. Would be computer exclusive. Obviously HL3 would perform best on SteamOS.
Click to expand...

I think in my previous post I made a pretty good case as to why it would make sense for them to release it (or other high profile sequal of theirs, i guess) free as a way to promote the new OS. By releasing it for $60 on all platforms, they don't do anything in the way of getting people onto SteamOS. A slight performance bump isn't going to do anything in that regard; it needs to be a monetary incentive. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying not to release a paid Windows version, maybe staggered after the SteamOS release or something.

In the big picture, releasing an operating system / gaming platform is nothing you do half-assed. I don't think Valve is just dipping their toes in the water on moving PC gaming from Windows to Linux. If so, they are going to need to take their best shot at getting people to adopt it. I think HL3 is their best bet, but they almost certainly have something up their sleeves.
 
Why would I run this? On a living room machine? Oh, they mean my HTPC. It's doing just fine with Windows running regular steam.

No thanks.
 
kbrickley said:
I think this is targeted more as a preemptive strike at Apple and Google (maybe even Amazon) gaming consoles (that will use their respective App Stores) rather than a shot at Windows ... I still think a Steambox is a misplaced priority though ...

consoles sell about 100 million units over their lifetime (8-10 years) which likely puts their TV gaming audience at approximately 50-75 million (worldwide) ... tablets alone are selling more than 200 million units a year (with smartphone sales being in the 1 Billion unit range) ... the gaming populations there are enormous and expanding ... I think Valve/Steam would be better served by trying to capture that market with a mobile device or a streaming process through a mobile device ... if the Steambox turns out to be more Roku/Apple TV/Chromecast like I will withdraw my concern and complaint

I would still prefer to see Valve/Steam (or someone else) champion multiple monitor gaming ... even if they feel the need to target the TV audience I would like to see a system that can play across 3 TVs simultaneously (and correspondingly 3 monitors instead but at higher revolution) ... maybe I play the wrong type games, but I still prefer to game on my 27" 1440P monitor rather than my 120" 720P projector ;)
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Except how could valve possibly get into that market? They don't have the volume or weight of Samsung or apple to get priority in factories and get good hardware. And obviously the OS makers are not going to let them create stores within stores until the US government steps in and forces it.
 
HydroBudz said:
Why would I run this? On a living room machine? Oh, they mean my HTPC. It's doing just fine with Windows running regular steam.

No thanks.
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You aren't the target demographic. Valve's trying to get PCs into the living room (and thereby hoping to get consoles out) by reducing the cost of entry for consumers. If you already have a HTPC, you probably don't stand to benefit from SteamOS: you already paid for your Windows license.
 
jpm100 said:
Window 8 UEFI boot signing might have something to say about that.
I tried a Linux Live CD on a WIndows 8 laptop and gave up.

I'm sure Microsoft will have more stumbling blocks they will whip up.
Click to expand...

There are way around this
Like one way around this is to install on a another harddrive without any other drive hook then you can used Bios F11 Boot Menu then sel the drive and your problem is solved
 
vikingod said:
In the big picture, releasing an operating system / gaming platform is nothing you do half-assed. I don't think Valve is just dipping their toes in the water on moving PC gaming from Windows to Linux. If so, they are going to need to take their best shot at getting people to adopt it. I think HL3 is their best bet, but they almost certainly have something up their sleeves.
Click to expand...

I doubt Valve wants to do this in the long run. The SteamOS is most likely an example for other Linux distros on what is needed to turn Linux around. They didn't want to make a SteamOS, but other distros get fucking it up. Ubuntu especially with their decision to go XMir, just took a dump on Valve. Ubuntu was their best best to get a platform going that was going to carry PC gaming onto Linux, but Ubuntu is now all about mobile platforms.

As soon as other distros notice what Valve is doing to improve user adoption of Linux, they will copy SteamOS. Implement all the changes Valve did to make it user friendly, and gaming friendly. At some point those OS's will because the OS of choice over SteamOS, and valve will just stop supporting it.

As far as HL3 that's free, it's really stupid. Firstly, they could make it exclusive to Linux for like a week. To see how many people were willing to try Linux in order to play HL3. They'd still charge money, cause giving it away for free doesn't show the industry that Linux could have potential in terms of income. Giving it away just shows that people will do anything to get a game that people have been waiting for, AND it's free.

Releasing it for Linux a week before Windows and Mac would be enough to get people to try out SteamOS. For some people the performance boost on Linux would be enough. Releasing it on Windows and Mac next would be for those who didn't realize that gaming can be done on those platforms. Then like a month to 6 months later it arrives on PS4 and Xbone.
 
vikingod said:
I think in my previous post I made a pretty good case as to why it would make sense for them to release it (or other high profile sequal of theirs, i guess) free as a way to promote the new OS. By releasing it for $60 on all platforms, they don't do anything in the way of getting people onto SteamOS. A slight performance bump isn't going to do anything in that regard; it needs to be a monetary incentive. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying not to release a paid Windows version, maybe staggered after the SteamOS release or something.

In the big picture, releasing an operating system / gaming platform is nothing you do half-assed. I don't think Valve is just dipping their toes in the water on moving PC gaming from Windows to Linux. If so, they are going to need to take their best shot at getting people to adopt it. I think HL3 is their best bet, but they almost certainly have something up their sleeves.
Click to expand...

They would be better served creating a SteamOS Humble Bundle using some other high profile indie or AAA titles (including one or two of their own) ... Half Life 3 could be a multi-billion dollar release (like GTA V) ... that is a lot of money to put in the high risk OS game ... I don't think they are quite at the point where they need to go all in like that just yet ...

if they want to risk that much money they can subsidize the cost of their Steambox and sell it at a loss to grab market-share ... given that many of us have dual usage boxes (games and other functions) we will not want to go exclusively to a SteamOS for our primary box ... if there was a low cost second box we could add that much easier (especially if it were selling for several hundred dollars below cost) ;)
 
wonderfield said:
You aren't the target demographic. Valve's trying to get PCs into the living room (and thereby hoping to get consoles out) by reducing the cost of entry for consumers. If you already have a HTPC, you probably don't stand to benefit from SteamOS: you already paid for your Windows license.
Click to expand...
That depend after all Home Theater PC is for Video, Photo, Audio playback and TV Recording guest what Steam OS features is focused on.
 
kbrickley said:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai...-steep-uphill-battle-in-the-living-room-wars/ ... interesting analysis of the SteamOS on Forbes
Click to expand...

"Perhaps what I like best about the idea of SteamOS, however, is the knowledge that I can build a PC in the future without paying for an operating system. Sure, I could do that with any Linux build, but SteamOS goes a step further by allowing (hopefully) easy game streaming between Windows and Mac based machines, meaning my new SteamOS build could run my Windows catalog."

- if i could stream a game from my SteamOS box to a laptop or mac and still get the frames and performance that my main SteamOS box can do, SIGN ME UP!
 
kbrickley said:
They would be better served creating a SteamOS Humble Bundle using some other high profile indie or AAA titles (including one or two of their own) ... Half Life 3 could be a multi-billion dollar release (like GTA V) ... that is a lot of money to put in the high risk OS game ... I don't think they are quite at the point where they need to go all in like that just yet ...

if they want to risk that much money they can subsidize the cost of their Steambox and sell it at a loss to grab market-share ... given that many of us have dual usage boxes (games and other functions) we will not want to go exclusively to a SteamOS for our primary box ... if there was a low cost second box we could add that much easier (especially if it were selling for several hundred dollars below cost) ;)
Click to expand...

Well, I'm not sure a multi-billion dollar release could happen. The total PC download market is only around $4B annually (Valve has a huge share of that, no doubt), so I'm not sure one game could constitute a quarter of that. But I understand your point. It's clearly a lot of money at stake. I don't have financials, but my guess is Valve has plenty of financial capacity to subsidize a hardware platform.

The big question is, how does Valve view the SteamOS strategically in the long term and whether they see Windows as a threat worth addressing. Given Gabe's usually a very forward thinking guy, I wouldn't be surprised if they really tried to shake things up and do something unpredictable. Like they did when steam first came out, they'll probably drag a lot of us kicking and screaming, but hopefully it'll all work out in the end.

If anything, it's nice for us PC guys to have something new to discuss/debate. Something to look forward to, if cautiously.
 
vikingod said:
If anything, it's nice for us PC guys to have something new to discuss/debate. Something to look forward to, if cautiously.
Click to expand...

This is the bigger point that seems to be getting lost in the people getting caught up in the minutiae of their own home WiFi being weak in some areas and therefore Steambox could never work for them: Is that Valve is igniting new fires in the PC space, and doing so at a time really no one else is, certainly not Microsoft.
 
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