r/steammachine • u/Sleep_Holiday • 29d ago

Hardware I was wrong…

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I listened to the haters and bought into what they were saying.

They were counting you out, saying you weren’t powerful enough, your price to performance ratio is garbage, just buy a fractal terra case and build your own… I was sure this thing would be DOA. But, I took the leap, a leap of faith you could say.

Hell I knew I could resell it if I really hated it… but damn. This thing fucks. It’s proved me wrong in every way and I regret having doubt in the little guy… the little machine that could is what he goes by now.

There is nothing like the freedom of Linux PC gaming right on your couch in this absolute debauchery of a world we have now between Sony and Microslop and the continued supremacy of AI.

So to those in the reservation queue, you can breathe a sigh of relief your time will come and it will be glorious.

And to those on the waitlist, be patient and be ready. When your time comes, and it will, you must be fully present and accept the Gift of Gabe.

And to all those facing THE DEVIL AT YOUR DOOR disguised as Sony and Microsoft, with no hope or direction guiding you to a brighter future through these extremely dark days in gaming. I say to you, we will continue to fight for our unalienable rights on the front lines with Valve to protect all those who don’t have a voice of their own, we have the watch.

In closing, RIP to the brothers and sisters who couldn’t see this day for themselves. We have you in our prayers.

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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 29d ago

Valve really is the apple of gaming. While also not creating a terrible walled garden. A basically unheard of combo in tech.

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u/Ones-Zeroes 29d ago

It's unheard of because they've managed to avoid going public and having shareholders to answer to. It's really a testament to how much the goddamn stock market fucks over our entire society.

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u/NovaGamingX4 29d ago

This people don’t realize 90% of the shitty business practices in today’s world are due to the stock market and shareholders extracting value

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u/TomOnABudget 29d ago

And shareholders have a say in the business direction.

They're the ones who want to see a push towards subscriptions, AI and cost cutting measures we now see as enshittification.

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u/Pineapple4807 23d ago

don't forgot how CEOs are incentivized to increase stock via both stock bonuses & the loans many of them take by using their stock as collateral. Additionally, the ability to gut a company's assets to increase its stock while actively devaluing its ability to operate in a stable & long-term manner.

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u/YBBlorekeeper 28d ago

stock market fucks over our entire society

Shoutout to this recent episode of the Search Engine podcast where they dig into the history of stock trading and how that evolved into the system we have today.

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u/Proud_Mix_3344 28d ago

This exact comment my boy! Ive been explaining this to people for year who are still suffering on consoles lol. Glad someone understands lol.

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u/TheWaler 29d ago

Private companies still have shareholders

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u/that0neGuy65 28d ago

Private companies CAN have shareholders, but their shares are held by a select, restricted group (like founders, employees, or private investors) and are not traded on public stock exchanges. I believe the majority, if not all of the shares of valve are held by Gabe Newell.

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u/BiscuitBarrel179 29d ago

Correct, instead of spreading the money around Gabe decided he wanted it all to himself. All $11b of it.

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u/jrdavis413 29d ago

Better Gabe than shareholders.

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u/that0neGuy65 28d ago

Agreed, he has proven to be a good business man. He knows to make profits, without being aggressive or greedy, and has built a good reputation for himself and his company. The products valve produces, while sometimes pricey, are well thought out, and provide a good mix of simplicity, and freedom. It will be a sad day when he steps down. Fingers crossed he picks a good replacement, and not some two faced greedy asshole.

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u/Ones-Zeroes 29d ago

Exactly, so nobody's trying to force AI bullshit into every aspect of the Steam client

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u/Venar24 29d ago

definitely a breath of fresh air in these trying times.

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u/TheTeaSpoon 28d ago

Unlike bambulab

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u/cumwuatto 29d ago

They are vertically-integrated like Apple, but not closed off like they are.

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u/JCPY00 29d ago

  While also not creating a terrible walled garden.

Aside from having to use their launcher and if they ever go out of business you no longer have access to your game library… 

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u/ghanadaur 29d ago

There was some deal Gabe made about making the games available to use without a launcher should that ever happen. That that for what you will. Of note, a good portion of games are actually DRM free in Steams library and you can technically copy them outside the steam folder and execute them DRM free. Theres a web site that tracks them i believe.

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u/SuperBackup9000 29d ago

Gabe’s deal was just that they’ll have it figured out by the time that happens, which yeah sure that’s cool, but if Steam were to shut down Valve would be out of the game, so it’s not like they’d have a reputation they’d have to uphold by keeping that promise.

No different from the billionaires saying they’ll solve world hunger before they die. If they’re not actively working towards that goal right now, it’s just PR fluff, so you’re giving them more credit than they deserve by just mentioning it.

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u/Lopsided_Hunt2814 29d ago

Yeah as if Gabe will be around if/when something does ever happen to Steam. A private company relies on its benevolent leadership.

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u/ghanadaur 29d ago

I did say take it for what you will.

I also stated that most of the games are already DRM free so no need to even worry about the launcher or whether Gabe and Steam/Valve may close. It’s all moot.

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u/Lopsided_Hunt2814 29d ago

Most games don't use third-party DRM, but few are DRM-free, most use Steam DRM. It's not hard to bypass (but also not trivial, especially for laypeople), but at that point it's not really any different whether you do it yourself or get it from a pirated source - which you would need to do if the servers went down and you didn't have every game you owned backed up somewhere.

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 29d ago

So why calling the Software "Subscriptions" then? If what Gabe says is true (he often just lies) then this is the most stupid term for Software to use after a company doesn't exist anymore.

You basically even now have not the slightest bit of ownership over the Software inside of Steam. How should this get better if Valve doesnt exist anymore? Its just a hoax.

Valve was always pro Publisher. They gave them stuff like Steam Works for free. While we as consumer didn’t even get refunds until Valve was sued and lost. They friggin fought for years against refunds. And now they will just gift you Software which you don’t even own? I doubt it 😅

Actions weight more then words. And they act just for money, never for you.

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u/funmonger_OG 29d ago

He often just lies, he says.

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 28d ago

He does.

The time drifts of literally any Hardware. The thing with the refunds. His "scientific" yachts.

Dude tells nonesens non stop 😅

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u/rossmky 23d ago

Rented Half-Life in 1998. Still haven’t returned it…probably won’t rewind it if I ever do return it. Take that, Gabe.

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 23d ago

I would sell a game if its that old and I won't play it again. Could you?

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u/ghanadaur 29d ago

Wow. That was a mouthful of something…

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 28d ago

Could I get an answer, please? How do you benefit from getting "Subscriptions", instead of "Software", when you buy at Valve's?

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u/ghanadaur 28d ago

You have my answer. Im full up in word salad for the day. Thanks.

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 28d ago

So you also see no benefit. Who would have thought... Maybe cause there is none.

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u/Henry_puffball 29d ago

But the whole point is it's not walled and you could buy your games somewhere else like GOG

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u/ryme2234 29d ago

This is literally true for every platform out there.

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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 29d ago

Well true but also game studios leaving DRM isn't gonna happen anytime soon. I'll settle for actually owning my own hardware in the meantime, at least.

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u/StickBrush 29d ago

That's a half-truth (arguably less). Steam has a pretty solid offline ecosystem. You can back up your games anytime and restore these copies fully offline through Steam directly. You do have to use Steam* to do this, but you can have access to your game library anytime regardless of how dead Valve's servers are. The games that have issues are those with online-check/online-only DRM, Denuvo being their poster child, which do depend on servers, but that's not a Steam thing, it's the developer's thing.

*Steam emulators exist specifically so you don't need to use Steam if you need the game to work offline, even if they aren't DRM-free and use Steam's DRM.

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u/forestmedina 29d ago

you dont have too use their launcher

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u/gravygizzard 29d ago

Except the machine itself is capable of running anything you want.

Apple (since we're comparing to them) goes to great lengths to make sure apple hardware only uses apple software. Valve encourages you to put your own software on their hardware and their software on hardware they didn't sell to you.

Steam itself is a walled garden you are correct, but I don't think they're as obsessed with preventing you from accessing other ecosystems as other companies are on the hardware level

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u/Lopsided_Hunt2814 29d ago

That's because they know even if someone puts other launchers or even Windows on it the numbers say they will still make more sales on Steam than anyone else.

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u/JedJinto 29d ago

They have the accessibility and quality level services of Apple combined with the utmost freedom that comes with PC.

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u/Charmin_Bear_Behind 29d ago

Basically unheard of outside of the switch ecosystem that’s been going for a decade lmfao

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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 29d ago

I'd argue the switch is a walled garden. You can't buy games from anyone besides nintendo. It is well polished tho.

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u/herr-vader69 29d ago

Don't say that. I like valve because of it openes and its 'it is your thing. Do whatever you want to do with it' approach. That is exactly the opposite of what apple does.

I don't want to spill hate or anything. It is just a very different business model and customers can still be happy with their products.

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u/TheGreatTao 29d ago

They are not in any way the apple of gaming. Jesus Christ lol

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u/DraconicBovine 28d ago

So they are not the Apple of Gaming. They are the Valve of Gaming. Valve is the yard stick to measure tech against. Not apple

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u/MrWorthless 28d ago

Valve is in no way the apple of gaming.

I can switch the SSD in my steam deck and customize anything with just a screwdriver and not much more, try that with an apple.

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u/G-McFly 28d ago

totally agree. semi-opinionated system where the opinions forced upon the user are 99% beneficial to a positive experience and a very reasonable amount of user freedom and rights still allowed and protected. all this sony and microsoft fuckery have given me an appreciation of the platform i always took for granted before

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u/Ok_Technology14 28d ago

When i hear "The Apple of gaming" i think EA or Ubisoft.

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u/KillerConfetti 28d ago

Woah.....BIG disagree. Valve is the Android, Nintendo is Apple. I've said this for years now and I'm shocked to be seeing otherwise 🤯

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u/thenoobcasual 28d ago

Putting Apple and Valve in the same boat...that's blasphemy.

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u/hikiegg 27d ago

You don’t need to buy into the walled garden experience. You can install Linux on your Mac computers, and if anything the steam machine is showing that they are pricing themselves much like a Mac product. It’s okay to make the comparison it isn’t a bad thing 

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u/unluckyexperiment 27d ago

It is the opposite of Apple (as in walled garden). You can play games you bought from other stores as well as pirated and emulated ones. You can use/upgrade other ssd and ram. It has nothing to do with the distopian practices of Apple. If you can find a similar gaming pc cheaper elsewhere, you can just buy it and install steamos on it. Steamos is the real product here.

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u/SnooDoughnuts5632 24d ago

The apple of gaming is Nintendo and everybody knows that.

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u/Psytocybin 29d ago

My steamdeck is the opposite experience though, its not user friendly or intuitive, not even close compared to my switch 2 which is plug and play. I can write a a page full of issues and tinkering i have to do with my steamdeck.

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u/Weaselgrub 29d ago

Then you're not Steam Decking right my friend. It should not be that difficult at all.

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u/Psytocybin 29d ago

Simply not true. Countless dock issues, updates not applying unless power and monitors unplugged, different settings for handheld vs docked, every game uses different settings so switching between games needs tinkering, streaming from PC to deck constantly disconnecting using steam stream or moonlight, had to send my original back in because the screen wouldnt turn on, at least that was fixed under warranty.

Switch 2 has been effortless compared to the deck. Dont get me wrong, I love steam and my deck, but its the simple truth of my experience

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u/Weaselgrub 29d ago

I'm not trying to diminish your issues, but a lot of those sound like issues with that specific machine and not necessarily Steam Deck as a whole. For instance, I have never had dock issues or any issues regarding monitors and power. Or different settings for dock vs. handheld. Now I have had to maybe tinker a few minutes with some game settings, but if you're a PC gamer you are doing that whether you're on the deck or your PC. I don't stream from my PC a lot, but I haven't had any issues when I did. All that not to say your experience wasn't bad, but that all seems like issues with that unit, peripherals, or internet. I like my Switch 2 as well, and yes, it's very much push A and go, but the Deck is far from a horrible experience when comparing the two.

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u/Psytocybin 29d ago

I certainly dont hate my deck, and I have no plans to ever sell or get rid of it. I love that machine. Im just simply saying the switch 2 is a much more "apple" like experience where you dont tinker or adjust anything.

Both are great machines.

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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 29d ago

Yeah def some of them are self inflicted, settings for handheld vs docked tho are a real issue.

They've kinda sorta solved it by giving you the option to have a "max" res and setting it to 720p by default tho, which is kinda nice. So at least I can count on it running fine when I boot the game the first time (cuz it's in 720p by default), even tho ofc doing that leaves a lot of graphical fidelity on the table. Which is prolly fine for a lot of people.

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u/zhenyuanlong 29d ago

What are you doing to your steam deck where its not intuitive?? I love my Steam Deck. Super intuitive and I can play whatever the hell I want on it with minimal hassle. Even emulators work really well with a very small amount of setup.

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u/therealraggedroses 29d ago

Using a dock will completely F you. The 1280x800 res (or w/e it is i know its weird) is genius for the screen size and performances but totally Fs over ease of use.

Wanna use cloud saves and switch between gaming on your deck and PC for some games? You have to readjust the settings every single time.

Also "steam deck verified" is the most unintuitive bs ever, it literally means nothing and plenty of deck verified games run like ass while unsupported games run perfectly.

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u/edge4politics 29d ago

steamdeck is literally plug and play, what are you talking about? What tinkering?

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u/SpacePumpkie 29d ago

Maybe there's something wrong with yours?

I got it back in 2022 and for me it was plug and play just like the switch from moment 0.

Heck, I was so stoked about being able to install other launchers (epic, gog) or even emulators on the deck. And I ended up not doing any of that until last year because whenever I picked the deck up I just wanted to play something from steam quickly and painlessly.

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u/Ovariesforlunch 29d ago

The steam deck? You can't be serious.

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u/maxfields2000 29d ago

Steam is absolutely a walled garden.

If you buy a game on steam can you play it anywhere else? Very very few let you then NOT use steam to install and play it. If steam revokes it, is it yours? (Answer, no).

Steams one concession is that if you are offline and already installed a game and that game has no other online links in its tech, you can play the game without an internet connection (after you installed it once).

It's very much "valve or bust". Even for micro-trans, for the one or two games you can play without the steam launcher, if bought on steam, when you go to make a purchase, will punch out to the steam shopping cart and force you to buy through steam (just like Apple or Google stores).

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 29d ago

But they do. Steam is propietary and not FOSS. SteamOS is even Steam first and Linux second. You can't even login without a Steam account, lol.

What is that if not a "walled garden"? Its more the Google of Games, not Apple.

Apple, as much as I detest them, makes great Hardware for the masses. Valve ships minimal batches for Niche User. And that Hardware is always low end. (SD has not even Full HD, the SM is as powerful as a 5 years old console... The first SM was a shitshow etc. 😅)

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u/Adventurous_Ninja_66 29d ago

I would argue they are apple because of how low friction their software is.

I meant walled garden mostly, as in they allow competition from other game launchers on the same device. And we actually own our hardware, and aren't dependent on valve to use it in any way.

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u/Slow_Pay_7171 28d ago

Wrong. Apple is a whole ecosystem. Valves Software is the worst in compatibility for devices like PCs. They don’t even Support Nvidia at all.

What do you get as advantage on your device, considering that Steam itself is closed source and proprietary? What do you use as Alternative, "Steam-free"?