Valve delays Steam Machines until 2015 – but given how vague the term is ...
In a Steam Community post today, Valve employee Axiom announced that the company's Steam Machines would be delayed through the end of the year as the company conducts further tests on its new wireless controller. According to him, while the wireless controller has generated a great deal of useful feedback, the iterative design process and the need for complete play testing means that the controller won't be ready until 2015.
He goes on to say 'Obviously we're just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands,' which seems to imply that to Valve, the Steam Controller is a critical component of the Steam Machine experience - possibly more-so than any of the underlying hardware. While this makes sense given that Valve has decided to let any OEM build Steam Machines, it underscores how seriously the company is taking its controller initiative.
From 10,000 feet up, this makes a lot of sense. Consoles sell millions of units because they offer a unique, gaming-focused experience. Valve has already given up control of its hardware and stated that it'll equally support all of its titles on both Linux and Windows. That leaves two realistic options - better performance through OpenGL or the Steam Controller itself. While the Controller will also be available as a stand-alone project, it's still a hook to draw people towards Steam Machines - a hook that Valve can possibly build off of through integrating controller support directly into the SteamOS operating system.
Is this really all about the controller?
Earlier this month, a Valve employee issued a scathing indictment of both OpenGL in general and the three major graphics vendors in particular. While we don't want to put words in the company's mouth, it seems clear that implementing OpenGL support across all three vendors in a way that ensures optimum performance in the wide range of games that SteamOS supports is no trivial task. Obviously Valve will want to build robust porting mechanisms and create tools to help developers support its own Linux efforts as well as rolling out features like in-home game streaming from traditional Windows boxes.
The last question is whether or not this will have a material impact on any of the OEMs that are currently developing Steam Machines. It may not - Valve has never announced a formal release date, so OEMs may have no particular expectations for when these boxes will ship for revenue - but again, no one likes having unused inventory sitting around. If the machines are delayed too long, the manufacturers that have announced them may wind up doing point hardware updates while they wait for Valve to give the green light. The ultra-thin margins many manufacturers are apparently targeting could be particularly sensitive to manufacturing delays or launch disruption.
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