Following on from the success of the Steam Deck, Valve is creating its very own ecosystem of products. The Steam Frame, Steam Machine, and Steam Controller are all set to launch in the new year. We’ve tried each of them and here’s what you need to know about each one.
“From the Frame to the Controller to the Machine, we’re a fairly small industrial design team here, and we really made sure it felt like a family of devices, even to the slightest detail,” Clement Gallois, a designer at Valve, tells me during a recent visit to Valve HQ. “How it feels, the buttons, how they react… everything belongs and works together kind of seamlessly.”
For more detail, make sure to check out our in-depth stories linked below:
Steam Frame: Valve’s new wireless VR headset
Steam Machine: Compact living room gaming box
Steam Controller: A controller to replace your mouse
Valve’s official video announcement.
So uh, ahem.
Yes.
Valve can indeed count to three.
No. They have never designed a desktop before. The original Steam Machine was mainly a branding program for system integrators coupled with the release of the original Steam OS.
Or do what they’re already doing and just call it something else.
But there’s one major thing you’re missing/ignoring: a big reason why the Steam Deck was a hit is because it has good price/performance. EGPU’s are the antithesis of that. They don’t scale well, and they add extra hardware and complexity, driving up price and limiting performance.