Steam Machine Pricing Revealed - From $459 to $4,999

[iniudan]

I still don't fully get them, as console gamers will just...stick to consoles, won't they? It sure is cheaper.

Only on the initial console purchase, don't forget on console you have to pay a subscription to get access to online feature of most game and the game themselves are not on sale as often.

Steam machine game also got the advantage that game can also be easily modded, without any technical knowledge, due to steamwork workshop, if dev integrate the feature. Which console as ever supported mod ?

 

[Pyro Yuy]

No one is going to buy a console at $459 in this day in age. I mean, look at the XBone! That was $499 and until the price drop it was selling as bad as the WiiU (And worse when Mario Kart 8 came out). So the fact that none of these Consoles are cheaper then $400's will mean that the Steam Machine is going to be a failure.

The Xbone was never and will never sell as bad as the WiiU.

http://www.cinemablend.com/m/games/Wii-U-Potentially-Outsells-Xbox-One-Weekly-Sales-61315.html

It was only a week, but it's still a week. But for a while they both had comparable sales, it wasn't until m$ dropped the price $50 that they managed to stomp on Nintendo's neck.

But both are getting the good old in out from the ps4 sales wise.

I still don't fully get them, as console gamers will just...stick to consoles, won't they? It sure is cheaper.

Only on the initial console purchase, don't forget on console you have to pay a subscription to get access to online feature of most game and the game themselves are not on sale as often.

Steam machine game also got the advantage that game can also be easily modded, without any technical knowledge, due to steamwork workshop, if dev integrate the feature. Which console as ever supported mod ?

But then you forget people are stupid and get easily confused. Look at the entire, $x.99 thing, or that gas is $x.xx9/10. They don't look at the long term of things, just the right now of it. If people were smart, they they would almost never lease a car, these rent to own places would go out of business, and everyone would game on PC.

 

[Scow2]

Plus, I feel people are forgetting, This is no longer the valve that made Half life 2 episode 2 and TF2, this is the Valve that won't provide quality control on their greenlight service or give a proper refunding service if your game won't work.

Putting Quality Control on Greenlight defeats the whole fucking purpose of Greenlight.

 

[Skeleon]

So, these Steam machines were supposed to give the accessibility of consoles to PC games libraries, right? Yet now we hear of high-end gear and high prices, upgrades and changes and so on. Especially the upgrades aspect of it is jarring, how in the world are they going to guarantee upgrading these things won't mess up the accessibility of them, how are they going to avoid the compatibility issues, the driver-needs and so on, that all PC gamers who want to upgrade or tune their gear can run into? At this point, it sounds like a line of regular gaming PCs (from relatively cheap to insanely expensive) put in a computer case stamped with a specific logo and pre-installed with a different default OS. Big whoop. This is just another marketing stunt.

 

[major_chaos]

So they are PCs that can be purchased at a variety of price points and spec levels with a significant mark-up for labor? Well for a second there I though they were just the same prebuilts that have been available for years but with heat dispersion issues and a proprietary OS... oh wait.

I do not get these things at all. People who are so technologically inept that they are too scared to buy an existing prebuilt or put in the minuscule effort to custom build are still going to be confused by the variety on display here, console gamers presumably are on consoles because they don't care about "1080p60fpsomgwtfbbq" making better hardware a meaningless benefit, and at the high end the kind of people willing to drop 5k on gaming are either going to build it themselves or go to one of the fancy build-a-PC sites and get and engraved one of a kind case and all the bells and whistles.

Really the only people I can see this appealing to are blind valve loyalists who would buy a six hundred dollar toaster if it had the valve logo on it, and people with such a disgusting amount of disposable income that they would rather drop 1k on a second gaming PC just to connect to the TV rather than just wiring the one they have to the TV with a ten dollar HDMI cable.

 

[Th37thTrump3t]

Also, $50 for a controller? Sheesh.

Considering a PS4 and Xbone controller will run you $60, that's actually not that bad.

OT: I'm glad that these are finally being released. I probably won't get one since I just built a new gaming PC a few weeks ago, but they still look like pretty badass machines.

 

[Pops16]

So they are PCs that can be purchased at a variety of price points and spec levels with a significant mark-up for labor? Well for a second there I though they were just the same prebuilts that have been available for years but with heat dispersion issues and a proprietary OS... oh wait.

I do not get these things at all. People who are so technologically inept that they are too scared to buy an existing prebuilt or put in the minuscule effort to custom build are still going to be confused by the variety on display here, console gamers presumably are on consoles because they don't care about "1080p60fpsomgwtfbbq" making better hardware a meaningless benefit, and at the high end the kind of people willing to drop 5k on gaming are either going to build it themselves or go to one of the fancy build-a-PC sites and get and engraved one of a kind case and all the bells and whistles.

Really the only people I can see this appealing to are blind valve loyalists who would buy a six hundred dollar toaster if it had the valve logo on it, and people with such a disgusting amount of disposable income that they would rather drop 1k on a second gaming PC just to connect to the TV rather than just wiring the one they have to the TV with a ten dollar HDMI cable.

This is the sentiment of a lot of people. All arguments aside, that is going to be a problem in selling these things. As I said since the beginning, its the solution to a problem no one had. Should have been ONE set of specs, decent price point and hardware marginally better than the current gen consoles. THEN you start to gain an audience. The current gen consoles have disappointed in game selection, features and functionality. Steam has a nice pre-existing library of games many console users haven't even experienced. The time was right, the execution was wrong.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

No one is going to buy a console at $459 in this day in age. I mean, look at the XBone! That was $499 and until the price drop it was selling as bad as the WiiU (And worse when Mario Kart 8 came out). So the fact that none of these Consoles are cheaper then $400's will mean that the Steam Machine is going to be a failure.

People will and have been buying consoles at over $459 in this day and age.
The Xbone was never and will never sell as bad as the WiiU.
The price will not be the end-all determining factor for deciding if the steam machine concept will fail or not. Personally i don't care, what i do care about is SteamOS especially with microsoft start talking 'free' OS and XBL for Windows. I've also never held the controller yet, who knows it might be excellent and be the new go-to controller for PC gaming, finally taking over from the 360s.

$450 gets you the console, controller and a good 30-40 of the games on this list:
http://store.steampowered.com/genre/Free%20to%20Play/?tab=MostPlayed
If you want to start spending money, for the $60 a retail PS4/XB1 game goes for you can have Kerbal Space Program, CS:GO, Civ5, Torchlight 2, The Witcher 2 and FTL.
These will last you a full order of magnitude longer than The Order. Each.
How much is 3 years of Xbox Live, again?

1) Some people have, sure, but a majority of people do not buy consoles that are over $399. The PS3 certainly wasn't selling well when it was $599, and that was before the recession. The XBone wasn't selling well when it was $499, which is why they had to drop the price to $399, in order to compete. That's not to say no one bought these consoles when they where expensive, but it wasn't enough to keep the consoles alive, that's for sure.

2) Actually, the XBone was being outsold by the WiiU around the launch of Mario Kart 8 (Which was 2 weeks after Titan Fall, I might add). The XBone for the majority of it's $499 life did outsell the WiiU, but not by much, and the WiiU was keeping pace with it. When the XBone dropped to $399 was when the XBone finally started to really sell more then the WiiU.

3) The price won't be an end all determining factor, yes, but it will be a factor, there is no doubt about it. A majority of gamers will not buy a console that is over $400 dollars in this day and age; Some might, most will not.

4) I already have Kerbal Space Program and Civilization 5 on my PC, which is another problem with the Steam Machines; Why buy a console to play these games when I can get them on my Computer? Why buy a console for an Operating System that I can get for free and use on my Computer? Why buy a controller that looks a little awkward and has weird "touchpads" when a Mouse and Keyboard are so much more efficient?

Also, my console of Choice is the WiiU, so that, along with Steam on my Computer, makes my Internet Fee for Gaming $0.

 

[Dragonbums]

And a year later and I'm still not impressed. Although I am very surprised at the lack of zeal considering how the last time Steam Machines were mentioned on here it was full of people trying to convince us that it is indeed the shit.

I just really don't know who this is for? Like, PC people want a couch experience they can hook up their HDMI to the television. Unless of course they are literally so lazy they are willing to shell out money for a Valve console/PC thing to play their steam library on the big screen.

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

Other than storage space, the mid-range priced steam machines have my PC beat for half the cost. Although, it is a laptop...

I may be in the market for one of these if I don't build my milk-crate computer soon.

 

[Laughing Man]

but I can see how some console gamers looking to convert to the "PC gaming master race" may see the appeal of these all-in-one media center solutions.

Not at nearly 3 grand they ain't.

So let me get this right, if you buy a Steam Machine you are getting a low to uber high end rig that is gimped by running the Steam OS, i.e you're only playing the games that happened to have been converted to Steam OS (it's not that many by the way )

If you happen to buy one that is dual booting (which anyone with half a brain will be doing anyway) you're basically buying a low to uber high end PC and paying the premium to have someone else build it and get a fancy Steam Logo stuck on it, or, how's the product ANY different to a pre built PC? Oh you get a Steam controller with it... or I could just buy one for my current gaming PC.

It's not an intro product for console gamers wanting to move in to PC gaming, who looks at a gaming market then decides they will buy the machine that limits a fraction of the available games because of the OS it uses? A console gamer looking to move in to PC gaming will buy a dedicated gaming PC, not some half arsed PC that wants to be a console but doesn't have a clue what the hell it actually is.

 

[Dragonbums]

but I can see how some console gamers looking to convert to the "PC gaming master race" may see the appeal of these all-in-one media center solutions.

Not at nearly 3 grand they ain't.

So let me get this right, if you buy a Steam Machine you are getting a low to uber high end rig that is gimped by running the Steam OS, i.e you're only playing the games that happened to have been converted to Steam OS (it's not that many by the way )

If you happen to buy one that is dual booting (which anyone with half a brain will be doing anyway) you're basically buying a low to uber high end PC and paying the premium to have someone else build it and get a fancy Steam Logo stuck on it, or, how's the product ANY different to a pre built PC? Oh you get a Steam controller with it... or I could just buy one for my current gaming PC.

It's not an intro product for console gamers wanting to move in to PC gaming, who looks at a gaming market then decides they will buy the machine that limits a fraction of the available games because of the OS it uses? A console gamer looking to move in to PC gaming will buy a dedicated gaming PC, not some half arsed PC that wants to be a console but doesn't have a clue what the hell it actually is.

The harsh reality of the "Steam machine" that it is a console with mutltiple spec models at launch as opposed to the one or two models that Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo has. They don't really know what it is because they want to describe it as anything but a console that has Steam OS on it. Just like how Xbox has a Microosoft OS, etc. etc.

That's it. That's what the Steambox is. A console for PC gamers that don't want to admit that they dislike consoles so much that when they want the benefits of one without actually buying one they will get one from Valve that are emphasizing that it's totally not a console.

CAPTCHA: ups a daisy.


Hard truth.

 

[Doom972]

The Webhallen S15-01 looks nice for someone looking to get into PC gaming but doesn't want to get a custom-built PC, but if you really want to get the best value, a custom built PC with the right parts would still be ideal.

 

[Roboshi]

The harsh reality of the "Steam machine" that it is a console with mutltiple spec models at launch as opposed to the one or two models that Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo has. They don't really know what it is because they want to describe it as anything but a console that has Steam OS on it. Just like how Xbox has a Microosoft OS, etc. etc.

That's it. That's what the Steambox is. A console for PC gamers that don't want to admit that they dislike consoles so much that when they want the benefits of one without actually buying one they will get one from Valve that are emphasizing that it's totally not a console.

CAPTCHA: ups a daisy.


Hard truth.

Maybe that's it! It's not a PC for converting console gamers, it's a Console to convert PC gamers who are scared by the idea of a system that doesn't come in a pricing range on the same scale of some small cars and don't want to admit to playing with a controller.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Hey, maybe with a little competition my Playstation or Xbox web browsers will finally get a damn flash plug-in so I don't have to wait for an app to give the same free internet content that's only available through PC browsers. Or I could just stop complaining and buy one of these.

 

[vallorn]

Who in their right mind would drop 5k on this this? If you're going to drop that kind of dough you might as well build a machine yourself.

The kind of people who buy laptops for gaming or any Alienware product in general.

That cheap ibuypower model is actually not bad at all. A VERY nice value for a prebuild with those specs.

 

[Baresark]

Ummm... those prices are terrible. You could build that low end one yourself for around $200-$250. Man... what a terrible endeavor this turned out to be.

 

[Extragorey]

Let's not forget all these machines also ship with SteamOS, and we haven't heard anything about that yet. Could be a pain, who knows. Most people probably couldn't be bothered installing a different OS themselves, either.

Anyway, those prices are pretty bad. Like, at least 50% more than the cost of building a similar system yourself. I haven't looked at every different model though, so there could be some good deals there.
And they come with a Steam controller (that's an extra $50 value in the price) so presumably no mouse or keyboard, and they're marketed as lounge-room PCs so presumably no screen either... Those prices are looking worse and worse.

Also, $50 for a controller? Sheesh.

Isn't that typical for a controller at launch? Pretty sure the XOne controller was like $60 when I got one. Oh wait, Google says it's still like $80 from the official Microsoft store.

Hey, maybe with a little competition my Playstation or Xbox web browsers will finally get a damn flash plug-in so I don't have to wait for an app to give the same free internet content that's only available through PC browsers. Or I could just stop complaining and buy one of these.

Consoles don't have Flash? Wow, even Android has Flash. Oh well, Flash is going out nowadays anyway. With Youtube having recently switched over to HTML5 video, most of the Flash remaining on the internet will just be in annoying banner ads.

So let me get this right, if you buy a Steam Machine you are getting a low to uber high end rig that is gimped by running the Steam OS, i.e you're only playing the games that happened to have been converted to Steam OS (it's not that many by the way )

Well, there's at least 1,000 Steam games [https://steamdb.info/linux/] that are confirmed to run on Linux right now, and the list is rapidly growing (SteamOS is built on Linux). That seems a fair deal better than the er, Ryse: Son of Rome that launched with the Xbox One.

 

[L. Declis]

I can provide a person who might want to get this; me.

I am sick and tired of Windows and my laptops constantly dealing with crap and no resale value and so on, and so I shall be jumping to Mac soon; the downside? I can't play many of my games, and my Mac is to be a primarily work focused laptop.

This possibly allows me the chance to have a gaming rig for Steam without having to deal with a huge desktop or another laptop which I cannot upgrade. I'm fine with the price of $700 for decent specs (far above my current laptop), and it will sit nicely besides my PS4.

Yes, I am one of those horrible people who simply don't like building a computer, getting hold of the parts and making sure it all works is a pain in the arse when it is prebuilt, let alone if I Frankenstein one together. So if I can find a way to see if all my games have jumped ship to the SteamOS, then I'll likely consider buying this.

 

[Living_Brain]

those $5000 machines are complete bullshit. They can't even put an i7 5820k in there, which you totally can, in a computer less than half the price... also 3 GPUs can actually be a hinderance in certain games wherein no performance is gained relative to 2 cards. The only thing going for this is the small size.

However let's see for how much I can build one of those:

Falcon's: $3030 [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JLB9P6] (Save $2000)
Origin's: $2090 [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tsfG6h] (Save $2900)

Gigantic profits. I hope no one buys those. I didn't use cheap parts either.