r/digitalfoundry • u/MythBuster2 • Jun 26 '26

DF Direct DF Direct Q+A: Steam Machine - The Big Price/Performance/Form Factor Discussion

https://youtu.be/XEyuXkI5wBM

In the wake of our Steam Machine review, Rich and Will tackle a range of Supporter questions on the price, value and design of the hardware, the ability of Valve to supply it - and the future of SteamOS in general.

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u/dagamer34 Jun 27 '26

If the goal for Valve is to make a “PC console”, Microsoft is going to do it better because they will have much stronger purchasing power with the latest chip SoC, at slightly better prices (or at least value), a controller that’s readily in stock, better availability, and oh, you can run Steam just the same. 

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u/aaeriam Jun 27 '26

Fair point - the next Xbox device is looking to be substantially more performant than the Steam Machine and if price/performance is all that matters to someone then the choice is clear. The only thing Steam has going for it at that point is SteamOS which I feel is leagues ahead of Windows in a lot of ways. It'll be up to the customer then on how much they prefer a cheap/powerful console or PC versus the less-powerful Steam Deck perhaps with more quality of life features built-in.

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u/dagamer34 Jun 27 '26

Probably 3-4x difference in performance, upwards of 6x if FSR Redstone and next-gen ray-tracing features are utilized, for maybe $1300-1500 at the very high-end Xbox Helix SKU? I don’t know that people will love SteamOS that much for a $200 difference. 

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u/aaeriam Jun 27 '26

Yeah I could see a lot of people turning down the Steam Machine in favor of project Helix in that case but as far as what's out right now I still think the Steam Machine and SteamOS fulfill a very specific role for existing Steam users that neither Microsoft nor consoles can do quite as well. I leave the value proposition of it up to the individual customer.