Valve Reportedly Reacted Negatively to Steam Machine Pricing.

2 hours ago7 min read

YouTuber Linus Tech Tips just dropped a bombshell that's rocking the gaming world, revealing that Valve had a seriously awkward reaction when he suggested their Steam Machine should hit that sweet $500 console pricing spot. According to Linus, the room went dead silent—like when you accidentally trash-talk a dev in their own game's chat—the moment he floated the idea of competing directly with PlayStation and Xbox on price.This isn't just some random gossip; it's a major oof moment that speaks volumes about Valve's whole strategy, or lack thereof, with the Steam Machines. Remember those things? Back in 2015, Valve tried to push PC gaming into the living room with a bunch of partner-made boxes running SteamOS, but the initiative basically flopped harder than a Day-One game launch.The pricing was all over the place, with some models costing way more than a decent gaming PC, which totally missed the point of appealing to the console crowd. If Valve really balked at a $500 tag, it shows they were maybe too stuck in the PC master race mindset to understand the console market's brutal price wars.Consoles are often sold at a loss, with companies making bank on game sales and subscriptions—something Valve, with its massive Steam revenue, could have totally leveraged. Instead, the Steam Machines ended up as confusing, overpriced niche products that didn't offer a clear upgrade over consoles or PCs.This revelation from Linus fits right into Valve's rep for being kinda allergic to traditional marketing and rigid strategies; they're all about that open-platform, hands-off vibe, which works for Steam but maybe not for hardware. The silence in that meeting? Probably Valve engineers realizing they'd have to cut corners or take a hit to hit that price, and that's not their style.But in hindsight, that reluctance might have cost them a shot at dominating the living room early on, before things like the Steam Deck came along. Now, with the Deck's success showing a hunger for portable PC gaming, it's clear Valve learned some lessons—but back then, that $500 hesitation might have been a pivotal fail. For gamers, it's a classic 'what if' scenario: could a cheaper, focused Steam Machine have changed the console landscape? We'll never know, but this story adds a juicy layer to gaming history's biggest could-have-beens.

#Valve

#Steam Machine

#pricing

#console

#Linus Tech Tips

#gaming hardware

#featured