[intexpress]

To win this console generation and outsell the PS5, Valve would have to sell 85 million Steam Machines (as of today, and likely need to sell 120 million by the end of the generation). About a 0% chance of that happening.

Looks cool, though

[redwall_hp]

The Nintendo Switch also sold over 150 million units, and the Switch 2 has had a faster sales velocity so far.

Steam only has something like 140 million monthly active users, so moving that much hardware is incredibly far fetched.

[xena]

I'm implying they'd win via a cultural victory TBH

[johnnyanmac]

Everyone is sinking culture on real time. So winning by throwing a bread crumb out is technically correct, but not significant.

[wongogue]

I am up for a lego pyramid made of Steam machines.

[culi]

Valve has the advantage of practically infinite backwards compatibility.

Console generations change every decade or so and the previous console gets abandoned. Anyone who buys a Steam Machine will continue to have access to the largest collection of video games in human history. Not to mention there are emulators for every classic console already and even the Nintendo Switch has at least two great emulators for it.

[marginalia_nu]

Surely the Steam Machine is in a newer generation than the PS5?

[redwall_hp]

Its specs seem on par with the PS5 Pro, and this doesn't even have a price or a shipping date yet.

The PS5 is already about five years old, has had a slim release and a PS5 Pro. The PS6 announcement is probably a year away, with a 2027 or 2028 release.

Valve is launching a last-gen console, probably at a price that won't be competitive, right before the PS6 comes out.

[someNameIG]

I think Digital Foundry has expects the performance to be bit below the base PS5 in most cases. It has a new generation of CPU/GPU than the PS5, but less cores/ CUs. VRAM is also only 8GB, PCs generally need more than that to match PS5 settings.

[marginalia_nu]

Is console generation really a statement about performance?

Where does that leave e.g. Nintendo Wii, which is generally considered to be the same generation as the Xbox 360 or PS3, despite having not nearly the performance.

[brees504]

and do that while having none of the big multiplayer games