The Steam Machine dilemma
Valve announced the Steam Machine and its price(s), causing much unrest online. Some saw it coming, some are disappointed, some have a more realistic view that this is the price of non-subsidized hardware in 2026. I think the price is fine for what you get, but you should not be paying it if you are comfortable building a computer yourself.
Let’s put the Steam Machine into perspective. When you buy one you get a console-like experience with the ever growing catalog of Steam. But you also get a fully functional computer you can use for everything you could use a regular computer for. And you get all of this in a neat, little box. What we should be aware of is that the Steam Machine does not compete as computer for most, but as console. When you buy a console you get just a console-like experience (duh) and a smaller, slowly growing catalogue of games.
Compared to a PlayStation 5
The hardware of the Steam Machine seems solid and roughly competes with the PlayStation (non pro). Owning a PS5, one thing I can say for sure is that not all games run without hiccups and not all run at solid 60fps. At the same time when they do, 60fps is good enough for a TV. Most TVs still max out on that, only very few support 120fps. As much as it will annoy the hardcore PC gamer crowd, people do not care about 480fps when playing Gran Turismo, Stellar Blade or Assassins Creed.
One of the big advantages of a Steam Machine is that you still have a PC and therefore a PC game in front of you. So instead of simply choosing "quality or performance" you can dial in settings a bit. Most people do not want to do that, they get a console because it is supposed to be plug and play. But the option exists and should not be discarded.
People who used the new controller seem to like it. As an owner of the original Steam controller I can tell I would immediately order yet another 8bitdo Ultimate. The touchpads are a nice gimmick but to me completely useless. I would actually trade the controller for a preassembled eInk screen Valve open sourced.
Where does this leave us from a price perspective? The Steam Machine is roughly twice as expensive as a regular PlayStation 5 after all. That is a lot. But there is a very good chance that the total price of ownership will be significantly lower for the Steam Machine.
Games
When I buy games for the PS5 I always buy a physical disk. Even triple A titles on release are often cheaper as a disk than the digital version. And within a few weeks they are often 10 to 20 Euro cheaper. Why? Well, of course you have to pay extra for physical distribution and storage space and... /s. It makes no sense, but it is reproducible.
And yet most people buy digital versions nowadays, which is understandable. Especially if you do not plan to sell games at some point or lend them to friends. So I believe it is fair to compare digital prices. I am not factoring in PlayStation Plus. If you are okay with playing games only for a limited amount of time PSP is in my opinion very much worth the 100 a year. If you play two titles you are at a break even point, but that is short term renting and does not seem to be too popular.
When it comes to game prices Steam will almost always win. With Steam sales you can get a backlog of a dozen games for the price of single triple A title. Or two or three fairly recent triple A titles for the price of a new release. While there are sometimes sales on consoles, they never reach Steam levels of cheap.
When factoring in the price for games over the total lifespan of the SM you should easily come out ahead on total cost of ownership. Consoles are subsidized through game prices, so it is natural they are cheaper to buy, but the money needs to be recovered one way or another.
One thing the PlayStation will soon have going for it again are console exclusive games. Sony noticed that too many people are buying a game and are not locked into their ecosystem and we obviously cannot have that. (On a related side note: I celebrated Shift Ups decision.)
Trust
Even physical media you buy is hardly more than a license keys these days. Sony just removed around 500 movies people bought. Nintendo closed their online store and killed Mario Maker. You can download a Steam game. You can get full installers on GoG. With a console you are beholden to the stupid ideas people who do not play games come up with. Even if you get all your games on Steam, Valve was a reliable company so far. And even if that would change, copy a Steam.dll into your game directory and you are good to go again.
This is where having a PC comes in handy. It might be irrelevant today. Or in the next two years. But in an ideal world a game console does not have the lifespan of a cheap T-shirt.
To me the other part is that I do not want to support companies on their journey of customer hostile decisions. I am no hardliner on this. There are companies I disagree with but for various different reasons still use their hardware or software. Gaming however is a purely recreational activity. My livelihood does not depend on it - and it feels very easy for me to vote with my wallet here.
DIY
Remember how I said you shouldn’t pay for a Steam Machine if you’re comfortable building a computer yourself? Yup. Let’s get to the fun part: DIYing a Steam Machine. Instead of Steam OS I would suggest throwing Bazzite on it if you take this route.
I configured a really solid gaming system. Not top of the line, but at least in the top third. We are talking Ryzen 7800X3D, 32GB memory, 2TB storage and Radeon RX 9070XT. These specs will easily beat the Steam Machine or a PlayStation 5 Pro. I did not cheap out on components. Seasonic PSU, Noctua fan and what I was told is a pretty case. The whole setup sits around 2300 Euro. So twice the base model SM, 4 times a PS5.
Reducing its power and getting closer to PS5 Pro performance or SM performance is noticeably cheaper. Especially when making some tradeoffs like a slightly worse, but still good PSU or a less pretty case. Maybe only 16GB memory and 1TB storage till things smooth out again. After all the fun thing with DIY is you can easily upgrade later.
But even at this price I believe with games factored in over the lifetime of the system it will be comparable to the PlayStation.
This is kind of fine
I think many people were rightfully disappointed Valve could not meet the aggressive price point many hoped for. The release timing could not have been worse. There is a lot of value in the plug and play aspect of the Steam Machine over a DIY system. And the TCO will in my opinion be favorable.
If we look at the price of the Steam Machine from a perspective of someone who is able to afford looking at the TCO, pricing is fine for the current market. And I believe in Valve to come down with prices if the market adjusts.
What is not fine is that you have to be able to afford the luxury of choice when deciding on your next gaming system. And I hate that this is the case. Gaming is amazing. Everyone who wants to should be able to play games, but more and more people get priced out of the hobby.