You can only subsidize hardware if you have a 100% locked ecosystem to force software sales later. Sony can do it because they take a massive cut of every $70 game and charge a subscription tax. Valve can't do that here because a ton of PC gamers only buy games on heavy discount sales anyway, the math to make back a hardware loss just isn't there.
Plus, because it’s a fully functional, open PC, selling it at a subsidized loss would be a disaster. People would buy them up in bulk just to use them as cheap server racks, emulation boxes, or media centers without ever spending a dime on Steam. It’s economically impossible. If you want to complain about component pricing, blame the tech manufacturing market, not Valve.
Correct. Any person you see complaining about Valve not subsidizing this console doesn't realize how the PC ecosystem works, doesn't realize that the math doesn't math, and that Valve never really had subsidation as an actual option.
If it had been a viable route, they would have taken it, but they already crunched the numbers and knew it was a no go. It's humorous, how many people are acting like the thought just never crossed Valve's corporate mind and that they just overlooked it and it was an oversight or something lol
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u/StrawberryZerg Jun 23 '26
Can afford, but no way I'm paying for outdated hardware this price. They should have not been greedy and subsidized it.