Yeah, and when it comes to my phone, I’m the same way. Sure, I could get Graphene OS, but I just don’t see enough benefit to go through the headache of making the change and probably finding issues to troubleshoot. I’m not disliking my current experience, so why look for a fix? These people feel this way about Windows. They’re not giving Steam Machine a chance unless there’s an incentive, and it’s not gonna be significantly cheaper, so they’ll skip it.

But I think there will be enough people buying this that the industry will feel a shift. Enough people are pissed at Microsoft and/or modern console experiences and/or need to upgrade their system.

Agreed. I don’t blame CoD players or people who play other games that use kernel anticheat, and I don’t blame Valve for using something other than Windows here; the issue is lazy corporations choosing to use a shortcut for anticheat which doesn’t catch all cheaters and locks Linux out.

But the reality is that most people interested in giving this product a shot are not the people who play CoD, and if they do then they’re either happy on console or on their Windows PC already. Steam Machine isn’t for them, and the people interested in a Steam Machine aren’t interested in these games. It’s like somebody looking to buy a Corvette being told that it can’t tow a boat. Yeah, cool, that’s not what I’m trying to do with it, but I guess thanks for pointing that out so people who don’t know any better won’t try?

I wonder if it could support an external DVD/BD drive via its USB ports. I assume yes, but that would be an extra purchase for you.

My Steam Deck feels about on par with PS4 in terms of power, and they say Steam Machine will be more like a PS5, so it sounds like it would be an upgrade over your PS4. Just more expensive, especially if you’re buying a disc drive.

I think that this thing coming out will only be beneficial to PC gamers, especially Linux users. This will encourage further development and standardization.

Fewer choices is a drawback, and it will limit the market share, but I think most people who would be interested in a Steam Machine probably don’t care that much about the kinds of games that utilize kernel anti cheat. Some buyers might just be displaying sour grapes, and some console CoD-like players might be looking to make the switch to PC but this is a nonstarter for them. I do truly feel bad that they won’t get a welcome mat through this path, but it’s neither their fault nor Valve’s fault.

I’m not naive enough to think there could be a change to how these companies do anti cheat, but if Steam Machine sells really well, it’d be cool to see these companies at least start developing with Linux in mind. Microsoft fucked up with 11, doubled down with terminating support for 10, and now Linux distros are blowing up; then Valve comes in with this? Idk what % of market share Linux would need to hit for EA to start giving a shit about potential revenue that they’re just declining to chase, but I think we’re about to see unprecedented numbers that could tempt them. If nothing else, maybe a separate Linux release that isn’t cross platform, but is a sort of compilation game. CoD BlOps Linux: whatever the latest one’s campaign is, plus its multiplayer, and like top 10 maps from the past few games or something. Idk. Do a Linux release less often but still capture those customers.

Exactly this! I bought a used steam deck and found that I could trust Linux nowadays. Then I wiped my laptop before Windows 10 lost security support and put PopOS on it and it worked fine. All the while, I’ve been loosely planning a desktop build to replace that laptop from 2015 because it’s old af but just couldn’t justify spending $1500 on parts when I already have a PS5. My plan was to not buy a PS6 when that comes out and just build my own Steam Machine and throw Nobara or Chimera or PopOS onto it, but now I probably won’t have to!