It would seem the first batch of manufacturers who signed up for the Steam Machines Initiative are set to lose a lot of money. They do not talk numbers, but speak candidly about the risks with WSJ.
Both Alienware’s Frank Azor and Falcon NorthWest’s Kelt Reeves agreed that they did not expect to be making money anyway, at least for now. They decided to sign up as a partner to Valve after looking at Valve’s prior success in PC gaming. They think Valve really can make lightning strike twice with Valve Machines.
However, other manufacturers do have concerns about where the initiative is going to go. For one, fragmentation really will be a sticking point. iBuyPower’s Tuan Nguyen thinks the situation could end up like Android, where the proliferation of variations has worked against the platform by confusing its customers.
At this point in time, the platform simply has too few games, in spite of the much ballyhooed in-home streaming. Both the streaming option and the Steam Machines themselves would only be accessible to hardcore Valve fans anyway, in terms of both budget and ease of entry.
It should be interesting to see if Valve or its partners opt to reveal sales of their hardware in the quarter, or perhaps the coming year, but either way, Steam Machines still have a long way to go.
