do you need a living room pc? - quick take #7

Do you need a living room PC? This is the question I ask myself as I excitedly sift through the details of Steam's announcement of their console/PC hybrid, the Steam Machine. As the lines between console and PC gaming continue to blur, this is the burning question more and more gamers are asking themselves. If PlayStation and Xbox games, including their exclusives, can be played on PC, then why go through the hassle of choosing between consoles? Why not just build or buy a PC where you can play everything in one place? Sure, entering the PC ecosystem is an understandably daunting task, especially for those who want a turnkey solution for their gaming needs. However, if the Steam Machine turns out to be what it appears to be, then the long-standing walls separating the console gamer from the PC gamer are about to come crashing down. So, do you need a living room PC? I think for most gamers, the answer might be yes.

So, what is the Steam Machine? According to Valve's announcement video, the Steam Machine is a "powerful gaming PC in a small, yet mighty package, designed for your games on the big screen". This announcement video features all of the classic core tenets of a console release advertisement, such as friends gathering on the couch to play together, and the unit running seamlessly on large TVs. This makes it clear that at a top level, Valve wants gamers to view the Steam Machine the same way they would view their PS5, Xbox, or Switch -- as the box they can turn on and go with. However, with the ability to do things like switch operating systems or use whatever peripherals you want, the Steam Machine is still a traditional PC at heart. According to their product page listing, the Steam Machine boasts a semi-custom AMD GPU/CPU, features expandable storage via micro USB, and features DisplayPort 1.4. HDMI 2.0. One USB-C and four USB-A ports all in one six-inch cube that can be hidden under a banana. All of this is undoubtedly impressive and very interesting, but who is the target audience?

Before I tap into the wider opinions of the gaming community to answer that question, let me speak on my own setup. In early 2025, I entered the world of PC gaming with a pre-built PowerSpec G521 that I purchased from MicroCenter. Coming from a lifelong relationship with console gaming, I felt intimidated about building my first PC. I wanted something I could just turn on and have work right out of the box -- a turnkey solution that mirrored my console experience with the power of Steam supporting it. However, if the Steam Machine had been announced before I had made that purchase, I may have reconsidered. I don't regretting purchasing my tower, but I knew that even with a pre-built PC, I would be giving up some of the conveniences that come with gaming on a console, like easily being able to switch between playing on a monitor and a TV, or having the ability to just turn on the box and go without having to configure too many settings. There's something about sitting at your TV with a console that gaming on a PC just hasn't been able to replicate. Between sitting at my PC and OLED monitor, and playing on the go with my Steam Deck, being able to sit on my living room couch at my big living room TV with the Steam Machine feels like the missing piece of the puzzle. Whether or not I need it depends on how much I value I place in that big TV gaming experience, and this is a fact that holds true with the gaming community at large as well.

Valve appears to be tapping into multiple audiences with the Steam Machine -- chief among them, in my opinion, is the console gamer who wants to jump into the world of PC, but is hesitant to do so because they either don't want to abandon the traditional play on your couch experience, or because they don't want anything other than a turn-key gaming solution, which is 100% valid for any gamer. Is the gamer who falls into this category going to care about how consistently the Steam Machine hits Valve's 4k/60 FPS performance claim? If they were considering PC gaming, then maybe, but most likely not, as most of the gamers in this category know what current generation performance looks like via current generation hardware, so as long as this box is doing that for the games they love, then that's all that matters. On the other hand, you've got PC gamers who either don't own a gaming console or own one in addition to their PC, but both of whom are looking for a turnkey solution that they can play on their couch at their TV set up. I would argue that this audience is much more niche than the former, and even though there is currently no data to show how many Steam users use Big Picture Mode, it must be popular enough for Valve to create a box that likely boots right into it.

What does the Steam Machine Mean for console competition?

No, I am not wading into the social media console wars with this question. Rather, console competition is an important topic for the health of the industry, because the less of it there is, the less incentivized companies will be to create products that speak to the interests of their customers. The Steam Machine is coming at an interesting time in the landscape of consoles -- especially when it comes to Xbox. Where Xbox appears to be receding from its position as a traditional console maker, Steam is seemingly sliding right into its spot with the Steam Machine. However, how effectively Valve will hold that spot will ultimately come down to the price of the unit. Sara Bond recently announced Xbox's next-gen ambitions to build a "premium" Xbox console/PC hybrid in the years to come. With the recently released Xbox ROG Ally X handheld priced at $1,000, I can't see a scenario where their next mainline console comes in at under that price. Therefore, if Valve manages to price the Steam Machine at $500-$70, then it'll not only become the most competitive console on the market, but it will have cornered a market that Xbox has only begun to attempt to grab. Given the specs and capabilities of the Steam Machine, I think it would be entirely reasonable to suspect the pricing to be in line with the PS5 and Switch, but we will have to wait for Valve’s announcement to confirm. When that happens, we'll discover just how aggressive they intend to be in this space.

The Steam Controller and Steam Frame

In addition to the announcement of the Steam Machine, Valve also announced the Steam Controller and the Steam Frame. I bought a Steam controller back in 2015, and I do not have fond memories of it. But while the new Steam Controller doesn't exactly look aesthetically appealing, functionally, it looks pretty solid. Valve has stated that they want the Steam Controller to allow players to play games that weren't designed with controllers in mind. This will be a game-changer for both console gamers looking to play PC-only games and PC gamers looking for a Steam-based controller alternative alike. When it comes to the Steam Frame, I could see this being an exciting option for VR enthusiasts. Powered by a Snapdragon 8 Series Processor, 16GB of RAM, and the ability to run both VR and non-VR Steam games, this has a strong chance to become a heavy favorite amongst PC players who may have been using headsets like the Meta Quest 3 as their main PC/VR solution.

Verdict

I find it hard not to be excited about the announcement of the Steam Machine. Whether you're a console gamer who's been on the fence about jumping to PC, or a PC gamer looking to get back on the couch and game on your living room TV, the Steam Machine delivers performance propositions that are hard to ignore. The only potential downside to this launch would be if the price of the Steam Machine surpassed $1,000. However, I'm confident that it won't. Valve is clearly trying to disrupt the console market, and that goal can't be accomplished without competitive pricing. But until we know what that pricing will be, I'll hold off on labeling this as the definitive, accessible console/PC hybrid that every gamer needs.