As the PC market share of game sales continues to rise, it seems like the console scene is ready for a big shake-up. While Nintendo and PlayStation have been able to operate as business as usual, Xbox has struggled, resulting in Microsoft making moves that will likely kill its own console. The current console generation has been lackluster, but Microsoft has been reportedly kicking around some interesting ideas. Those ideas include integrating PC storefronts into the next Xbox, but Microsoft hasn’t met a rake it won’t step on, so my expectations for that are low. But it does show that there is a place in the market for a console that runs PC games, and why not let the company that made Steam so successful take a crack at a home console?
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What could a Valve console look like?
Hopefully it doesn’t look like a Steam machine
Valve doesn’t necessarily have a fantastic track record when it comes to making hardware, not surprising since the company’s main product, Steam, isn’t tied to specific hardware. The Steam Deck, Valve’s most recent piece of hardware, is an unmitigated success, and it provides a nice balance of ease of use and PC setting tinkering. I think a console in the style of the Steam Deck, using a set kind of hardware, but letting people run games that might not perform without issue. Valve could easily build a Steam Box verification process to go alongside the Steam Deck one, which could easily let people know if a game works on the console. It would likely be far more expensive than the roughly $500 most consoles cost, but being a Steam device would give the console a longer life than just a single console generation. Having PC functionality would allow for other storefronts to go on the console, making it more versatile than others.
- Dimensions
- 11.7 x 4.6 x 1.9 inches (298 x 117 x 49mm)
- Weight
- 1.48 pounds (669 grams)
It could allow you to have PC, PlayStation, and Xbox games in one place
Steam is home to more games than ever, making a console quite appealing
While PlayStation could attempt to push back on a theoretical Steam console by making its own PC launcher or something, at the moment Steam is the best place to play the largest variety of games. Xbox has fully committed to being a third-party publisher, putting all of its games on Steam day and date with Xbox, and PlayStation has continued to port poorly optimized versions to Steam within a couple of years of initial release. It’s not a perfect setup, but you could play all the best games on a single platform, which would make a Steam console incredibly appealing to console gamers who may want to make the switch. That also doesn’t include all the incredible indie games that are available on Steam that have not and may not get ported to consoles that would be accessible via a Steam console.
It could make PC gaming more accessible
A Steam console could be cheaper than a starter gaming PC
While building a gaming PC, or buying a pre-built PC, isn’t as expensive as you might think, it still costs a significant amount more than a console, assuming you want to run new AAA games when they release. Because a console has a set form factor and can be mass-produced, it makes it slightly cheaper than setting up a PC with a wide range of parts. There are also plenty of console gamers that aren’t interested in learning about different PC components and figuring out the best GPU for their build that doesn’t cost over $2,000. People who are more casual, or just prefer to spend their time gaming as opposed to learning about the hardware, could get drawn in with a boxed console. That would expose more people to more games, which could help more games see success, instead of the same ten live-service games everyone won’t stop playing.
Valve doesn’t need to make a console
Valve is incredibly successful. Does it want the headache that comes with selling more hardware?
To say that Valve and Steam are incredibly successful is a bit of an understatement. The PC piece of the gaming market pie has been growing for the past decade, and it seems like it could become the only part that matters within the next decade. Steam has done this primarily by existing on other companies’ hardware, existing within the Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems. The Steam Deck provides something that desktop PC doesn’t, and while a console does too, it doesn’t fill enough gaps to feel like something Valve has to make. The Steam Deck is also, while extremely successful, still quite niche compared to the console sales of even Xbox, which is lagging behind PlayStation and Nintendo when it comes to console sales. Making a Steam console would require a far bigger effort to make, and it might not be worth it.
Valve does seem interested in making new hardware
While a console hasn’t been in the cards for years, Valve seems to always be experimenting with hardware
On the other hand, Valve didn’t need to make a VR headset, and it didn’t need to make a handheld gaming PC, but it did make both. While Valve doesn’t seem interested in releasing something unless it feels truly special, the company is always working on something, and finding a way to get even more people on Steam must be at the top of the priority list. With a vulnerable Xbox and a PlayStation recovering from its failed live-service push, it seems like the console market is primed for a new competitor, and considering how much gamers love Valve and Steam, it feels like a prime opportunity. That doesn’t mean Valve will make a console, but if it did, it would drastically change the console landscape in a way that hasn’t happened since Sega exited and Xbox entered.
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