Valve’s Steam Machines, the consoles with the heart and brains of a PC, have been meant to entice non-PC gamers onto Steam’s digital distribution service, and were launched in 2013 without one of their key selling points, the Steam Controller—and thus to little result, since.
Valve is trying again this year. They announced at GDC today that a new line of Steam Machines will launch this November, and so will the Steam Controller. A new device, the Steam Link, has also been unveiled, which is meant to stream games throughout a user’s household.
All of the GDC announcement details below.
Steam Machines
A slew of new Steam Machines will be coming this November, from Alienware, Falcon Northwest, CyberPowerPC, and other hardware manufacturers that Valve has partnered with. These Steam Machines will start at the same price point as game consoles, but will have higher performance, Valve claims.
The selling point of Steam Machines is that, unlike gaming consoles, consumers aren’t limited to a specific set of hardware. Each Steam Machine’s price is simply a starting point, from which customers can deviate (higher or lower) by choosing alternative components.
Steam Controller
The Steam Controller will release alongside the Steam Machines this November, and it will be available for purchase separately for USD$49.99 in North America. [UPDATE: the original plan was that Steam Machines would come bundled with the Controller, and that’s confirmed by the new Steam Machine listings on Steam.] International prices will be announced closer to release.
Steam Link
And for those who won’t or can’t buy a Steam Machine, Valve have created the Steam Link, which is meant to effortlessly allow users to access their Steam library from the comfort of their couch. According to Valve:
If you have a gaming PC and a fast home network, Steam Link may be the right choice for your living room.
Setup is easy. Just connect your Steam Link to your TV and home network. It will automatically discover any computer running Steam on the same network.
All that’s left to do is grab your Steam Controller, then kick back and enjoy your gaming rig from the comfort of your couch.
Valve claims the Steam Link will support streaming at 1080p and 60Hz with low latency. The device will be available this November for USD$49.99 in North America. As with the Steam Controller, international prices will be detailed closer to launch.
Thanks SteamDB and Tom’s Hardware.
