But the TV-PC may finally be ready for its moment. With SteamOS, Valve has created a pretty good, fairly widely compatible replacement for Windows that hides a lot of the complexity of the PC (without removing it entirely, for people who need it sometimes). Like the Nintendo Switch, Valve has created a user interface that's easy to use on a handheld screen and on a TV from 10 feet away.
And it comes at the same time as a strange détente in the console wars, with Sony seemingly starting to embrace PC ports and cutting back on exclusive releases at the same time as Microsoft. Seemsessentially shutting down the Xbox hardware in favor of Windows. Valve is well ahead of Microsoft in its console-style PC interface, while the PC is becoming a sort of universally compatible super-console.
I'm sort of the ideal audience for the Steam Machine; almost all of my PC games are on Steam, I barely play anything that requires anti-cheat software, and I play mostly graphics-light indie games rather than GPU-taxing AAA games. So, you know, take my enthusiasm for this concept with a grain of salt.
But as someone who's been functionally living with a Steam Machine for months now, I think Valve's new hardware could do for living room PCs what Steam Deck did for laptops: define and expand a product category that others have tried and failed to crack. This year, my Steam Machine expertly kept up with me while I played. Silk Song, UFO 50, Dave Diverboth HD-2D Dragon Quest remakes, part of a bad guy movie Baldur's Gate IIIa bit of multiplayer Surviving Vampires experiments, several Party Jackbox Set sessions and much more. I've never been less tempted to buy a PlayStation 5.
