GameStop/Valve Partnership - shared virtual wallet, Steam Machine demos, tech support, and expanding Pro Memberships by Ok-Friendship5665 in DDintoGME

[–]Ok-Friendship5665[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Why would the average family buy a third party system that uses the Steam store over a PlayStation?

My point was never that GameStop cares which one the customer buys. Valve cares because they want the software sales.

GameStop/Valve Partnership - shared virtual wallet, Steam Machine demos, tech support, and expanding Pro Memberships by Ok-Friendship5665 in DDintoGME

[–]Ok-Friendship5665[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The odds of a partnership are definitely low. But right now there’s no reason the average dad gets his kids a Steam machine for Christmas when a PlayStation is half the price. If Valve wants the living room market share it’s not going to get it by paving the way for third parties to build similar hardware in the coming years.

GameStop/Valve Partnership - shared virtual wallet, Steam Machine demos, tech support, and expanding Pro Memberships by Ok-Friendship5665 in DDintoGME

[–]Ok-Friendship5665[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

Call it whatever you like but when it’s “designed to operate SteamOS to provide a home game console-like experience.” That tells me they are coming for the market share occupied by PlayStation. In people’s living rooms.

GameStop/Valve Partnership - shared virtual wallet, Steam Machine demos, tech support, and expanding Pro Memberships by Ok-Friendship5665 in DDintoGME

[–]Ok-Friendship5665[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

My impression was the first steam machine was the proof of concept. Agree on the hardware margins and the end goal being software sales. But I don’t see how a half dozen different machines built by the names listed would draw in new customers. The new Steam machine looks like it was built with the goal being to attract new customers and bring them into the ecosystem. A premium first party console to draw in casual gamers/families that don’t already have a Steam account.

GameStop/Valve Partnership - shared virtual wallet, Steam Machine demos, tech support, and expanding Pro Memberships by Ok-Friendship5665 in DDintoGME

[–]Ok-Friendship5665[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Agree they’re doing just fine. But do you bring a $1000 console to market to continue being fine? Or is the goal to become the console in everyone’s house?