Rumor: Valve working on "Steam Box" PC/Console

[Candescence]

Recently there's been chatter that Valve — the company behind the massively popular gaming service Steam — has been considering getting into the hardware business. Specifically, there have been rumors that the company has been toying with the idea of creating a proper set-top console which could potentially pose a threat to the Xbox 360and PlayStation 3. Valve co-founder Gabe Newell even recently told Penny Arcade: "Well, if we have to sell hardware we will."

At a glance that would simply be interesting fodder for a gaming forum debate, but we've uncovered information that suggests that not only has Valve been secretly working on gaming hardware for the living room, but that the company is actively pursuing a strategy which would place Steam at the center of an open gaming universe that mirrors what Google has done with Android. Backing up that concept, in the same interview we quote above, Newell says that Valve doesn't really want to do hardware on its own, stating, "We'd rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do [hardware]. We think it's important enough that if that's what we end up having to do, then that's what we end up having to do."

That jibes pretty well with this rumored arrangement.

According to sources, the company has been working on a hardware spec and associated software which would make up the backbone of a "Steam Box." The actual devices may be made by a variety of partners, and the software would be readily available to any company that wants to get in the game.

Adding fuel to that fire is a rumor that the Alienware X51 may have been designed with an early spec of the system in mind, and will be retroactively upgradable to the software.

Apparently meetings were held during CES to demo a hand-built version of the device to potential partners. We're told that the basic specs of the Steam Box include a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. The devices will be able to run any standard PC titles, and will also allow for rival gaming services (like EA's Origin) to be loaded up.

Part of the goal of establishing a baseline for hardware, we're told, is that it will give developers a clear lifecycle for their products, with changes possibly coming every three to four years. Additionally, there won't be a required devkit, and there will be no licensing fees to create software for the platform.

We're hearing that a wide variety of USB peripherals will be compatible with the boxes, though it will likely ship with a proprietary controller. It's possible that the controller will even allow for swappable components, meaning that it can be reconfigured depending on the type of game you're playing. Think that sounds odd? Well Valve filed a patent for such a device last year.

Additionally, we're told that the kind of biometrics Valve uses in game testing will somehow be incorporated into these devices. Sources of ours say that the realtime biometric feedback in games will be a sea-change for users. To put it more succinctly, the sentiment we've heard is: "You won't ever look back."

These biometric devices could come in the form of a bracelet, or be part of the standard controller.

The consoles will also take advantage of Steam's "Big Picture" mode, a feature Valve touted last year at GDC, but has yet to release to the public. According to the company's press release in 2011 "With big picture mode, gaming opportunities for Steam partners and customers become possible via PCs and Macs on any TV or computer display in the house."

The most interesting piece of this puzzle may be related to that statement. According to sources, the Steam Box isn't intended to just clash with current gaming consoles. Rather, Valve wants to take Apple and its forthcoming new Apple TV products head-on. Newell has clear questions about Apple's strategy, telling the The Seattle Times "On the platform side, it's sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms," adding that "They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people's access to those things."

The Steam Box could be unveiled at GDC, though we're also hearing that the company may wait until E3 this year to show off what it's been working on.

One thing is for sure, however: if these rumors turn out to be correct, there could be a whole new kind of battle for control of your living room happening in the near future. Of course, much of this is pieced together from a variety of sources, and there could be moving parts which we can't see. Some of this information could change.

We've reached out to Valve for comment, and will update the post with any new information we receive.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Masaru Daimon

[Swiss]

I think if anybody's got a good chance in the console market, it's Valve. I doubt they're in a position where they need to start making hardware, but either way it'll be interesting to see how this one pans out!

[Candescence]

I think if anybody's got a good chance in the console market, it's Valve. I doubt they're in a position where they need to start making hardware, but either way it'll be interesting to see how this one pans out!

[PSI Wind]

You mean I could play Sonic Generations at full 1080p and 60 FPS on my TV instead of playing it at 20 FPS at very minimum settings on my PC?

YES PLEASE!

[JezMM]

This would be so cool, though what kind of price tag would it have to be to be high-end PC quality from the off with all this extra fancy stuff too?

Still, if it's compatible with most older PC games too, dayum that'd be amazing.

[MykonosFan]

Release Steam Box, release Half-Life 3 on same day with desirable Steam Box exclusives, sales pour in.

Calling it.

[Nintendoga]

Ughhh, as much as I love Valve, and would fully support them if they did this, I just don't want another console on the market.

3 is already enough, with too many "exclusives" going to each console. Another one would just make things more unneeded and messy.

But, if they really do want to do this, I guess I would hold off on buying a 720 and a Vita and just get this and Wii-U or something.

Overall, I don't want another Video game crash of 201- whatever. if too many consoles come in the market.

Sometimes I wonder how much better the world would be if there was only one console with all companies working on it.

Edited March 3, 2012 by Nintendoga

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

This isn't really a console so much as a genericised PC with fixed hardware.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'd probably consider buying one, but it will be unusually pricy for the average console gamer.

[LunarEdge]

This isn't really a console so much as a genericised PC with fixed hardware.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'd probably consider buying one, but it will be unusually pricy for the average console gamer.

isn't that what a console is?

I have no interest in another home console. If I want to play Steam games, it will be when I ultimately obtain a better desktop. My laptop may be able to play steam games, but I don't PC game so it's not a bit deal atm.

The only way I can see this "steam box" succeeding is if they make it relatively cheap, make it play any already released steam game and any future one and have the games sell relatively cheap. My friends and I were talking about this not too long ago and as interesting as it will be to have a fourth home console flood the market [/sarcasm], steam is better off the way it is now

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

isn't that what a console is?

In a lot of ways yes, but it depends on what's actually in the console and what outputs it supports really. The line's definitely far more blurred than it used to be, but the most significant difference between a PC and a console is that a console by default uses an OS optimised for playing games and only playing games.

That consoles are gradually becoming general media players is another example of the lines blurring. Past a certain point this becomes a pedantic argument, but the difference in OS focus is still pretty clear-cut.

[SuperStingray]

Had Valve entered the console race earlier, they could've killed Microsoft. But I think most of the people that WOULD buy a Steam Box are content with an 360 and/or PC. This is why the Kinect and Move were flops; the people who would want them already own the Wii. But that said, a Steam Box could draw a lot of third party support; Valve's business practices are much more transparent and lenient than Microsoft's. They could at the very least syphon developers from the XBLA.

[Autosaver]

Box confirmed [Got it from the Sega forums which got it from neogaf which got it from 4chan]

Steam Box confirmed:

There’s this one Valve veteran who was definitively too chatty in the past. His name is Greg Coomer (www.valvesoftware.com/company/people.html), he’s a product designer and leading the SteamBox-team, which is pretty unspectacular in size with just 5-10 people working on it. Now, Greg sometimes tweets interesting stuff:

(in a non-chronological order)

Date: 22 Oct 2011

Link: twitter.com/#!/gregcoomer/status/127560965821693952

Tweet: “What I'm working on: t.co/jDLQnxvl”

Note: Read the article and especially Gabe’s statements. It’s obviously about a possible Valve console.

Date: 14 Oct 2011

Link: twitter.com/#!/gregcoomer/status/124651468501434371

Tweet: “Building a mini-ITX form factor PC is hard. Even things like wiring the power supply are not standard or straightforward.”

Note: Well …

Date: 3 Nov 2011

Link: twitter.com/#!/gregcoomer/media/slideshow?url=pic.twitter.com%2FuVdGOtZq

<picture>

Tweet: “Built this tiny PC. i7 quad core, 8GB ram, Zotac Z-68 mobo w/ onnboard Nvidia mobile gfx. Runs Portal 2 FAST.”

Note: This is the demo unit they used to demo the Big-Picture-Mode to possible hardware partners at CES 2012. This specification DOES NOT necessarily reflect what’s going to be used as the “baseline” specification for the final product(s). (contrary to Joshes’ story)

That’s just a snippet of all the information I’ve gathered about this project. However, I think these tweets pretty much confirm that Valve is actually working on a console (-like PC).

You may take screenshots of the tweets – just in case they get pulled.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Autosaver

[SuperStingray]

I'm not really concerned with the specs; I have faith a AAA PC-gaming company would choose good parts. My question is, what advantages would a platform with a dedicated Steam-based OS have to a simple well-built PC that runs Steam?

[Candescence]

I'm not really concerned with the specs; I have faith a AAA PC-gaming company would choose good parts. My question is, what advantages would a platform with a dedicated Steam-based OS have to a simple well-built PC that runs Steam?

A massive performance gain.

Consoles typically have crappier specs than PCs (such as very little RAM, 256 at most in this gen, the WiiU apparently has 1GB while 4GB is the norm for gaming PCs) but retain excellent performance because the underlying OS and other programs don't hog up processing power and memory, unlike PCs, especially these days. Take away all the shit unnecessary for Steam and games, and replace it with an OS that uses up the least amount of memory and processing power as possible, and you get a massive performance gain with games.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Masaru Daimon

[JezMM]

^ That right there would get me very interested in the Steam Box, especially as a Vista user who just so happened to buy his PC a little too early to get the much more efficient 7. I would upgrade but I just do not want to give Microsoft £100 for what is basically Vista but fixed.

Edited March 4, 2012 by JezMM

[pooshoes]

So this Gabecube or whatever it's going to be called, how exactly is it going to work? The article or whatever says it can play all existing Steam games, all of which use DirectX, a Microsoft product. Microsoft doesn't exactly seem like the kind of company that would license its software to a direct competitor in this way.

[Velotix von Skruviktorrius]

Microsoft doesn't exactly seem like the kind of company that would license its software to a direct competitor in this way.

You'd be surprised.

...unfortunately the details of that explanation are under an NDA (*sigh*) but trust me, Microsoft aren't as protective of anything not called Windows as you might believe.

[killemoff]

http://kotaku.com/5890372/is-this-valves-control-pad-design/gallery/1

Rumored patent of Valve's gamepad, with modular control, so you can switch between analog and d-pad

After a bit of discussion with a friend, i can actually get behind this design, if this happens to be true.

[vgmaster]

Will it be a different computer system like the C64, Amiga, and MSX?

[JezMM]

Lol, oh wow no-one actually posted the result of this yet?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-09-valve-no-steam-box-any-time-soon

It's not real, they were simply building boxes to test out a new Steam UI on.

[Wraith]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/03/valve-confirms-hardware-development

So, apparantly they ARE making a PC of some kind. Sounds like they're changing up the interface though.

[Chaos Warp]

Man, the gamer in me is saying, "FUCK YEAH!!!!!!!", but the realist is saying different. Will their console/PC sell if it dosen't have the casual gimmicky stuff that us gamers hate, but sells consoles? Will they able to shift a profit without resorting to some sort of bad gimmick? If this was to work, I think it would have to be a console that's not as powerful and cheaper to buy, but makes up for it with great games. Which I'd be perfectly fine with.

Also, can a mod please take the "Rumor" out of the topic title because it's no longer such?

Edited September 3, 2012 by Zero

[Komodin]

Hm, this is pretty cool and all, but I do wonder how they'll hold up against Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft...

[Phantomime]

I have no doubt that since this is Valve here, they won't allow it to be low quality.

However, the question on my mind is... what exactly is it? A PC, a console, computer addons? If it was a console, I'd gladly give it a shot, but the "Big Three" are very formidable opponents in that area, and it may be hard to get a foothold. As for a new type of computer, I don't know how I'd feel about that, considering I just recently paid a good amount of money for my current PC.

I think it would be most likely to make addons for PC that change they way they are used to play games, but on the other hand, with Gabe talking about worrying about Windows 8 potentially being closed-source... If they made their own computer line and OS that would be less of an issue?

I suppose the only option is to wait and see what becomes of this.

[Solly]

Whatever this is probably isn't intended to compete with Nintendo, Microsoft or Sony. If they are making hardware, they're making a PC, not a typical home console.