After being rumored for quite some time, Steam finally unveiled its plans for its own hardware, tentatively called Steambox. It can’t really be considered as a console but rather as a way to bring some usual PC functions to the living room, something that always interested the company as well as other competitors like Microsoft who has been trying so hard to make its Xbox 360 console the center of the living room entertainment.
Gabe Newell, Valve’s boss, has talked about the Steambox and the future of entertainment in a lecture given at the University Of Texas: given the kind of market the Steambox is aimed at, it won’t be traditional consoles the biggest competitors but Apple, who is trying to enter this kind of market after having established themselves in the mobile market. Since it’s pretty evident where Apple is going, Newell thinks that the Ipad’s creators will have a better success in entering such market rather than the other console manufacturers which lack experience in this regard.
For this reason and for Valve to be able to compete on an even ground, they will have to make enough progress in the Pc space and figure out better ways to addressing mobiles before Apple completely takes over both markets.
Gabe Newell is really happy about what Valve is going to do with the Steambox: they’re making something that was thought to be impossible to do possible and more competitors will be coming in the future, allowing prices to drop down and new innovative ideas to be developed. It’s an entirely new market and Valve has practically created it by themselves.
Source: Polygon
