Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday April 01 2018, @03:47AM   Printer-friendly
from the running-out-of-steam dept.

Valve quietly removed the Steam Machine section from Steam.

Previously on Steam, if you hovered over the Hardware category there was a Steam Machines link in the drop-down, which is now gone while the links to the Steam Controller, Steam Link and Vive remain. In fact, the entire Hardware page on Steam is now gone and anyone using the link is redirected to a basic search page. Looking back on it and doing a bit of quick research, it seems the change came this month.

I'm not surprised they did this, since currently no one is announcing new machines and the whole Steam Machine idea from Valve never really gained any steam. While it didn't really do the big splash many were hoping, it has done quite a lot of good for Linux gaming overall. As a result of the initial push from Valve, many developers and game engines have moved into doing regular Linux support. This is important, because many of the barriers involved in getting games on Linux have been removed.

We know for a fact that porting companies like Aspyr Media and Feral Interactive started doing Linux versions thanks to SteamOS and Steam Machines, with them both still continuing the effort. It's also likely what pushed GOG to support Linux on their store too, since they didn't want to miss out on the possibility of more Linux gamers to buy games.

Realistically and looking back on it all, the time just wasn't right. There were long delays, not enough "big" games to make people truly interested in the platform (especially when the likes of The Witcher 3 was confirmed and then never happened—still hurts) and various other reasons.

The question remains: What will become of SteamOS?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Sunday April 01 2018, @11:55PM

    by LoRdTAW (3755) on Sunday April 01 2018, @11:55PM (#661271) Journal

    > "Once that situation goes away, then we will see the era of Gaming on Linux.”

    MS isn't walking away from the PC until it's dead and buried under a vast heap of proprietary cloud SaaS. Until then, they aren't giving up so long as controlling the platform makes them money. And once they do let go, will there even be a PC market to cater to?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2