[Update: We have new information see here.]
In a move that's not exactly surprising, Valve has quietly removed the Steam Machine section from Steam.
Previously on Steam, if you hovered over the Hardware category there was a Steam Machines link in the drop-down, which is now gone while the links to the Steam Controller, Steam Link and Vive remain. In fact, the entire Hardware page on Steam is now gone and anyone using the link (http://store.steampowered.com/hardware/) is redirected to a basic search page. Looking back on it and doing a bit of quick research, it seems the change came this month.
I'm not surprised they did this, since currently no one is announcing new machines and the whole Steam Machine idea from Valve never really gained any steam. While it didn't really do the big splash many were hoping, it has done quite a lot of good for Linux gaming overall. As a result of the initial push from Valve, many developers and game engines have moved into doing regular Linux support. This is important, because many of the barriers involved in getting games on Linux have been removed.
We know for a fact that porting companies like Aspyr Media (original interview) and Feral Interactive (original interview) started doing Linux versions thanks to SteamOS and Steam Machines, with them both still continuing the effort. It's also likely what pushed GOG to support Linux on their store too, since they didn't want to miss out on the possibility of more Linux gamers to buy games.
Realistically and looking back on it all, the time just wasn't right. There were long delays, not enough "big" games to make people truly interested in the platform (especially when the likes of The Witcher 3 was confirmed and then never happened—still hurts) and various other reasons.
We now have over four thousand Linux games on Steam, with more releasing every day. Of course, that's just a number and there's a fair amount of rubbish, but that's only natural to see. The good news, is that we get a lot of decent games arrive on Linux too and there's no signs of it slowing down.
It will be interesting to see if Valve do another SteamOS/Steam Machine push, with SteamOS still seeing updates this year it's entirely possible. Either way, Valve has done a lot of good and continues to do so. They're not a perfect company, not all their ideas work out and that's fine.
Linux gaming still faces an uphill battle—a large one at that. Thankfully, no one company "owns" Linux and so it can essentially go on forever, keep improving and gradually get better over a long time. We will still be here no matter what, we love Linux and we have so many good games already we don't know what to play half the time.
Thanks for the tip, kreativt. Article text was updated to be clearer after publishing.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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They had to do 1 simple thing... (actually 2 :P ) make a mini ITX console type of pc cage that would be small enough and good looking enough to be in everybody's main living room under the tv or something
And then get an OEM contract to be able to sell same hardware as a custom build but on a cheaper price.
Profit....
They thought (the companies making steam machines) that they put on a steam machine sticker and suddenly their e.g GTX 980 would cost 1000$ isteaf of 400..
And they also did the console peasant marketing moves.. like increasing the ram to ridiculous amounts in order to excuse higher prices like 32GB ram.. who needs 32GB ram.. yes console peasants compare ram between consoles (and bits between consoles in the 90s) but that doesnt mean anything....
And then get an OEM contract to be able to sell same hardware as a custom build but on a cheaper price.
Profit....
They thought (the companies making steam machines) that they put on a steam machine sticker and suddenly their e.g GTX 980 would cost 1000$ isteaf of 400..
And they also did the console peasant marketing moves.. like increasing the ram to ridiculous amounts in order to excuse higher prices like 32GB ram.. who needs 32GB ram.. yes console peasants compare ram between consoles (and bits between consoles in the 90s) but that doesnt mean anything....
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Quoting: tonRQuoting: NeverthelessI don't think it ever was a device species at all. I don't know what Valve thought of it when they released it, but for me it was a Linux PC with a controller for the living room. That concept is not dead, nor are the Steam Machines sold. Nothing has failed here, because nothing gets abandoned. Owners of a Steam Machine still have got a Linux PC for the living room and 4000+ games to play.That's my question. What was/is in Valve's people mind when they launched Steam Machine? To promoted Linux? For fun?
I never said failed. Yes, Valve is still making money, Steam Machine or not, but every businesses in this world wanted to maximizing profit to even every single cent. So I'm very curious about the reason of Steam Machine existance.
I don't think there was a clear idea, on Valve's part, what a Steam Machine was for. It was a strand in the "open" gaming platform they wanted to exist, just as SteamOS and the Linux Steam runtime are strands of that platform.
My recollection is that they stated that they wished to foster hardware innovation, so there was no fixed/clear definition of a Steam Machine, but that they expected novel and upgradeable hardware offerings ( not just living room PCs ).
Unfortunately, that is difficult to achieve. PCs are already, de facto, flexible and upgradeable, so what can be added to that? Novel hardware that might have superior performance or price characteristics would take the form of custom designed components; but that requires a company with deep pockets, hardware design expertise, and a reasonable certainty of return on investment.
Microsoft also had this problem when they tried to get manufacturers to be inventive with Windows 8/Windows RT; noone was prepared to take that financial risk, so Microsoft did it themselves with the Surface. I don't think it has resulted in much profit over the years.
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@elmapul
"" " As soon as MS restrict Windows 10+ to running only signed applications"
why would they do that?
security? no one care about that otherwise they would use linux.
the ones who care use anti virus and think they are safe.
to make more profit?
they dont need to shoot then selfes in the foot, even if they are dumb enough to try that, their stake holders arent that dumb. ""
They would do that so they can take 30% of all application revenue on the windows platform, just like every other software distribution platform ( Steam , Apple store, XBox, PS etc ).
So, yes, to make more profit is why they would do it; their stakeholders are shareholders who only care about profit. If users have accepted Windows 10, they will accept store-locked applications. Anyone that doesn't will be free to look for an alternative.
"" "Windows 10 S(tupid) mode is testing the waters for a lock-out; "
nope it was an atempt to compete with the price of chromebooks. ""
Windows 10 S was an OS veriant for certain devices. Windows 10 S mode is the store-locked runtime mode that will be added to all all versions of Windows 10 ( Home, Pro and Enterprise ) in 2018/2019. According to Microsoft, users will still be allowed to switch to full windows mode to run non-store applications if they want.
History suggests Microsoft will incent their OEMs to ship devices with S mode enabled rather than full Windows mode. Seems like testing waters to me. :)
"" " As soon as MS restrict Windows 10+ to running only signed applications"
why would they do that?
security? no one care about that otherwise they would use linux.
the ones who care use anti virus and think they are safe.
to make more profit?
they dont need to shoot then selfes in the foot, even if they are dumb enough to try that, their stake holders arent that dumb. ""
They would do that so they can take 30% of all application revenue on the windows platform, just like every other software distribution platform ( Steam , Apple store, XBox, PS etc ).
So, yes, to make more profit is why they would do it; their stakeholders are shareholders who only care about profit. If users have accepted Windows 10, they will accept store-locked applications. Anyone that doesn't will be free to look for an alternative.
"" "Windows 10 S(tupid) mode is testing the waters for a lock-out; "
nope it was an atempt to compete with the price of chromebooks. ""
Windows 10 S was an OS veriant for certain devices. Windows 10 S mode is the store-locked runtime mode that will be added to all all versions of Windows 10 ( Home, Pro and Enterprise ) in 2018/2019. According to Microsoft, users will still be allowed to switch to full windows mode to run non-store applications if they want.
History suggests Microsoft will incent their OEMs to ship devices with S mode enabled rather than full Windows mode. Seems like testing waters to me. :)
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That's a real shame, even though as suggested it was kinda obvious. Steam Machine idea was terrific, and I'd love to have seen it successful. But browsing for a Steam Machine, the problem became apparent. They were underpowered and expensive. The total opposite of what was needed. But economics are a b****. To be sold as cheap as consoles (which stayed the main target), it would have needed to either be built in huge quantities (which requires a huge demand) or be sold at a loss (which we know consoles manufacturers often do, breaking even selling games). None of this was possible, it could have been if Steam decided to sell them at a loss, but to do so they would have needed to be hardware independent (which they were not at the time), and to somehow bet that they would sell enough games to cover their loss (or simply decide it was worth losing money on this venture - sadly, Gabe Newell is not in the business of losing money for adventure purposes - unlike Alphabet for instance).
And yet, this is painful because, even though the author of this article is right to mention that no one "owns" Linux and that it is a good thing, it's also unfortunately both its greatest strength and weakness. Think for a moment : There are 3 major OS nowadays. Windows, Android, and iOS. Both iOS and Android shares something in common. They are both loosely based on a Unix/Linux core, modified indeed, but a core nonetheless. Yet, Linux in itself stagnates, incapable to break from a few % of user (1% among gamer I believe ? 2 maybe ? 3 at most ?). Why is that ? Simply because if there is one thing Linux is bad at, it's simplifying things for users. Step back from your expert Linux user shoe, and go back a moment. You need to pick a distribution, among thousands, all doing something a bit different and offering a different way to install stuff, yum, apt, dpkg, pkm (...). And even when things are nearly simplifed to what they are on "mainstream" OS (aka, one click to download), you may have to choose between Debian or Fedora, and some apps won't even offer you the possibility, forcing you to recompile the package to what your distribution will accept. It's a mess, and not something random Jane or John will want to do. Even Firefox, THE Browser delivered with pretty much all Linux distributions will see its updates delivered faster to Windows than on most distrib (as the client often needs distrib specifc patches).
And that's the issue. An initiative like Steam OS had the opportunity to bring a big company into the fold to build an "ultimate" distribution which would become the "Android" of Desktop and compete with Windows just as Android has done with iOS on smartphones. I don't see Linux breaking anything before the community either start building the "ultimate" distribution themselves, fighting together to build the one distribution that can see a huge adoption and hence, compatibility. We all know this is unlikely to happen as this would kill the Linux idea as we know it. And yet, Google has shown that you can easily build a dominant OS out of Linux.
So yes, this is sad to see Steam rawing away from this beautiful idea. Hopefully as some suggests here, they may regroup to come back stronger, but I doubt it. At least not in this state. Handheld device like suggested here by some ? that's probably more likely. Gosh do we need a good handheld device capable of running a lot of PC games. Nvidia gave up on their shield tablet and even though Moonlight somehow offers some great things, we don't have a tablet as ergonomic as the Switch for gaming, hence if Steam could come up with one, I would be happy.
And yet, this is painful because, even though the author of this article is right to mention that no one "owns" Linux and that it is a good thing, it's also unfortunately both its greatest strength and weakness. Think for a moment : There are 3 major OS nowadays. Windows, Android, and iOS. Both iOS and Android shares something in common. They are both loosely based on a Unix/Linux core, modified indeed, but a core nonetheless. Yet, Linux in itself stagnates, incapable to break from a few % of user (1% among gamer I believe ? 2 maybe ? 3 at most ?). Why is that ? Simply because if there is one thing Linux is bad at, it's simplifying things for users. Step back from your expert Linux user shoe, and go back a moment. You need to pick a distribution, among thousands, all doing something a bit different and offering a different way to install stuff, yum, apt, dpkg, pkm (...). And even when things are nearly simplifed to what they are on "mainstream" OS (aka, one click to download), you may have to choose between Debian or Fedora, and some apps won't even offer you the possibility, forcing you to recompile the package to what your distribution will accept. It's a mess, and not something random Jane or John will want to do. Even Firefox, THE Browser delivered with pretty much all Linux distributions will see its updates delivered faster to Windows than on most distrib (as the client often needs distrib specifc patches).
And that's the issue. An initiative like Steam OS had the opportunity to bring a big company into the fold to build an "ultimate" distribution which would become the "Android" of Desktop and compete with Windows just as Android has done with iOS on smartphones. I don't see Linux breaking anything before the community either start building the "ultimate" distribution themselves, fighting together to build the one distribution that can see a huge adoption and hence, compatibility. We all know this is unlikely to happen as this would kill the Linux idea as we know it. And yet, Google has shown that you can easily build a dominant OS out of Linux.
So yes, this is sad to see Steam rawing away from this beautiful idea. Hopefully as some suggests here, they may regroup to come back stronger, but I doubt it. At least not in this state. Handheld device like suggested here by some ? that's probably more likely. Gosh do we need a good handheld device capable of running a lot of PC games. Nvidia gave up on their shield tablet and even though Moonlight somehow offers some great things, we don't have a tablet as ergonomic as the Switch for gaming, hence if Steam could come up with one, I would be happy.
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Quoting: etonbearsMicrosoft also had this problem when they tried to get manufacturers to be inventive with Windows 8/Windows RT; noone was prepared to take that financial risk, so Microsoft did it themselves with the Surface. I don't think it has resulted in much profit over the years.I am agree with all your comments except the quote above. And totally off-topic from this Steam Machine.
Recently Windows 10 on ARM shows very promising result even do the capability is very limited for now due to artitecture difference (x86 vs ARM or something). Thankfully, one of known ARM chipmaker who notoriously known for cheap and GPL-violator no joining MS for now. If not, I can say bye-bye to future open smartphone.
Everyone knows open IBM PC platform was/is a mistake and closing it is hard. That's why big tech trying (and probably no. 1 on their R&D list) to lock-down mobile phone/devices ecosystem even the "company-who-owned-Android". Thankfully again, Android is known for very open OS (or too open even malicious apps can exploit) which gives me hope for the future of mobile devices.
Kids (or grandkids, I know some GoL readers here are "antics" :P ) today are grewing up with presence of smartphone and I don't want all of them accepted the idea that any closed platform is de-facto in their future, like how Windows PC is today. With streaming and IoT becoming popular and getting better, now it is time to act.
on-topic back: I had to self-unblock "that" to read a link posted on GoL tweets. I'm not read "that thing" almost a year till today, no thanks to their over-sensationalism.
BTW, how on earth they still having hundreds of comments?
Also Shmerl, you're doing god-work there (didn't know you're "that" commentor). Thank you so much!
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Quoting: NolentharYet, Linux in itself stagnates, incapable to break from a few % of user (1% among gamer I believe ? 2 maybe ? 3 at most ?). Why is that ? Simply because if there is one thing Linux is bad at, it's simplifying things for users. Step back from your expert Linux user shoe, and go back a moment. You need to pick a distribution, among thousands, all doing something a bit different and offering a different way to install stuff, yum, apt, dpkg, pkm (...). And even when things are nearly simplifed to what they are on "mainstream" OS (aka, one click to download), you may have to choose between Debian or Fedora, and some apps won't even offer you the possibility, forcing you to recompile the package to what your distribution will accept.No. Methinks you need to step back from your "expert Linux user shoe". A new nontechnical Linux user isn't going to choose between thousands of distros. If they have a friend who uses it they will use whatever that friend recommends/installs for them. If they buy preloaded, they will use Ubuntu. If they're the comparison shopping type and check what's popular and user-friendly, they will end up with Ubuntu or Mint. Currently all other distros are either business or technical oriented or niche.
Once it's installed they will either find the software installer or they will give up. If they find the software installer they will use it and I see no reason for it to ever occur to them that there is any other way (except Steam) to install software on Linux. They will never hear the words yum, apt or et cetera unless they decide they really want to get to know their computer better.
Seriously. I use Linux ultimately for political reasons, and so I suffered through mucking around with dependency hell back in the day and learned a very few things about how Linux/es work. But I'm not a technical user and I'm not a tinkerer, so it's with great pleasure that I say I haven't touched any of that stuff in years. If it's not in the repository I don't wanna know about it.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 2 April 2018 at 11:19 pm UTC
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Quoting: Purple Library GuyA new nontechnical Linux user isn't going to choose between thousands of distros. If they have a friend who uses it they will use whatever that friend recommends/installs for them.
It is in itself a "problem" isn't it ? I've done the experience back in the day before I started to use Linux on my laptop and I came with as many different answers than friend/colleague using it. Googling for "best Linux distros" will neat you more answers yet. Your mileage may vary.
Quoting: Purple Library GuyOnce it's installed they will either find the software installer or they will give up. If they find the software installer they will use it and I see no reason for it to ever occur to them that there is any other way (except Steam) to install software on Linux.
You then assume than people never needs one specific software (which might exist on Linux but not be on the "store") because when they do, they might have to discover themselves that there are other ways to install apps ;)
I'd agree that it's probably doable for a random Jane or Joe to use Linux nowadays and do pretty much everything, but it still requires a strong will and a willingness to gimp (no pun intended) your experience for the sake of your principles. It's no small feat to do that.
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Mohandevir Apr 3, 2018
Sad... I really hope that SteamOS will live on or at least that Valve will include the steamos-compositor & steamos-modeswitch-inhibitor into the linux client so that we may switch DE, like Kodi does, when installed. My PC is hooked to my TV and I really like the idea of booting directly into BPM for a "lean & mean" gaming distro.
BTW, to answer some questions in previous posts, it's already possible to build your own SteamOS on any ubuntu based system (probably other debian based distros, but I didn't test it):
https://launchpad.net/~mdeslaur/+archive/ubuntu/steamos
Edit:
Just found that... Interresting read that goes with what others already reported:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/valve-has-several-games-in-development/
Last edited by Mohandevir on 3 April 2018 at 1:10 pm UTC
BTW, to answer some questions in previous posts, it's already possible to build your own SteamOS on any ubuntu based system (probably other debian based distros, but I didn't test it):
https://launchpad.net/~mdeslaur/+archive/ubuntu/steamos
Edit:
Just found that... Interresting read that goes with what others already reported:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/valve-has-several-games-in-development/
Last edited by Mohandevir on 3 April 2018 at 1:10 pm UTC
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qptain Nemo Apr 3, 2018
Quoting: NolentharI'd agree that it's probably doable for a random Jane or Joe to use Linux nowadays and do pretty much everything, but it still requires a strong will and a willingness to gimp (no pun intended) your experience for the sake of your principles. It's no small feat to do that.The idea that switching to Linux is gimping your experience is a very disagreeable one. Especially with concerns of usability in mind.
Last edited by qptain Nemo on 3 April 2018 at 2:27 pm UTC
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Quoting: NolentharYou then assume than people never needs one specific software (which might exist on Linux but not be on the "store") because when they do, they might have to discover themselves that there are other ways to install apps ;)Yup. That's exactly what I assume. Most nontechnical users don't need a lot of highly specialized software, and the repos have a ton of stuff. My wife is using a frigging Chromebook and she's never felt the lack of software. "Everything available in the Ubuntu/Mint repository" handles a much wider set of use-cases.
Quoting: NolentharI'd agree that it's probably doable for a random Jane or Joe to use Linux nowadays and do pretty much everything, but it still requires a strong will and a willingness to gimp (no pun intended) your experience for the sake of your principles. It's no small feat to do that.
It's a small feat. It remains true that something like Mint lacks a smidge of polish compared to MacOS or Windows. There's no way around it: There is currently no company investing serious deep-pockets money into doing the ongoing QA to make a Linux version with all rough edges smooth. Nor is there likely to be in future--there's no money in it. But the overall user experience is nonetheless probably better than Windows. The Microsoft folks build in enough deliberate design flaws from a UI perspective (in their attempts to reach other goals) that they end up spoiling the user experience more IMO than any remaining polish issues on something like Mint, which are generally pretty small. So for instance you end up with all the annoying/creepy update stuff. Or the actual design of the UI sacrificing usability for branding in one way or another.
MacOS probably has a better, if less flexible, UI than Linux. So they say, anyhow--I actually find it a bit frustrating when I try but I'm sure I'd be OK once I got used to its way of doing things. But you gotta pay through nose for your hardware.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 3 April 2018 at 4:33 pm UTC
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