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Call For Questions For DF Direct Weekly #240 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-11-13 15:03:02
Imported:
2025-11
Tags:
Q&A

Content

Hello there. Busy week, huh? The Steam Machines video has exceeded expectations in terms of the audience reception, not to mention the view count. It's up there with one of the biggest view counts we've ever had in the first 24 hour period. Perhaps not surprisingly then, we are fully expecting DF Direct Weekly #240 to follow up on our initial stories and we're also fully expecting a lot of Supporter questions.

But with that said, we are still planning to talk about other things. Whether we'll have the time to remains to be seen, but we're looking at Sony's statements about PS5 only reaching the mid-point of its lifecycle. We're also intrigued by the recent roadmap updates from AMD on its Radeon and Ryzen products. Horizon: Steel Frontiers... a Sony franchise game not launching on PlayStation 5? Red Dead Redemption 1 rated for Switch 2 and current-game consoles... what?

OK then, so let the deluge of questions begin. As I said, we're fully expecting a Valve onslaught but if you have non-Steam-based questions, well, they might stand out a bit more.

It'll be Rich (ie me), Oliver and Alex on the panel tomorrow. John's too busy playing Xbox 360 games. Deadline for your valued input is 8am GMT! Thanking you in advance!

Files

Comments

1040STF

With Steam OS coming to ARM, could it mean that Mac Silicon hardwares could finally turn into great Steam machines? Or are there still obstacles on the way?

Banandy

Ey up, me ducks! With the Steam Frame running off ARM, could this mean that we potentially see an entire legion of handheld devices becoming Steam Machines? Specifically, those “retro handheld” products that are capable enough to run indie Switch titles via emulation. Are we on the brink of a Nintendo disruptor? Cheers!

Alexandru Stefanica

Wouldn't an apu like amd ryzen ai 395 max be better than the current hw specs for the steam box? IIRC in term of perf it should be similar + you can configure how much memory you allocate to the gpu.

J0nkle

Hi DF Team! This Horizon MMO spin off has had me thinking about other entries in big franchises. I've heard it mentioned a few times about the current state of lengthy development times for AAA games. Why don't/ would it make more sense for developers to work on some smaller spinoff games after the main work is complete. I'm thinking of games like Batman Arkham Origins, Uncharted Lost Legacy, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. These games either used similar maps/ were built on the same tech or used the same gameplay with a new story, and some were sold at a lower price. Would this type of experience make more sense to work on in-between the big new titles, or would gamers not enjoy the lack of innovation and improvements? Eager to know your thoughts on this and thanks again for all your work!

InherentPersona

Hi DF crew. With the news of the Steam Frame and its mysterious connector on the front of the device, I'm curious: will we finally see Gaben's “tongue input,” as mentioned in last week's podcast, come to light? If we're less fortunate, what else could we expect this connector to be used for? Thanks!

Peter Karadimas

Hello Gentlemen! Do you think we might start seeing Nvidia variations of Steam Machines? Would this come in the form of chipsets that use intel CPUs or an arm based design that uses the steam FEX translation layer?

Snorlax cat

VR is so back, with nintendo doing the virtual boy, steam frame and Microsoft smart glass (remember that one Satya?). With apple vision getting psvr2 controller support, do you see yourselves (or rather Oliver?) reviewing the m5 iteration for games?.

Snorlax cat

Second question: what is Sony doing they are also developing a ratchet and clank mobile game? nintendo did this way back when they where about to launch the switch 1, when they launched some mobile games like super Mario run and Mario kart something mobile

Joshua Williams

This is my question. Clearly the strix halo platform is more expensive, but I’d love an idea of performance comparisons.

M

Given what we've seen for the new Steam Machine, can you potentially extrapolate what you believe Valve might go for in a Steam Deck successor in terms of specifications? I think we're all way more excited about that than even a new console to play with 😁

Retro Sean

Do you think that the Steam "console" will disrupt Microsoft's plans for Xbox? It almost seems like Valve is going to launch first in the "console that's also a PC" space.

Joseph Caruso

As someone who was all in on modern Virtual Reality about a decade ago, but slowly lost interest over the years, the Steam Frame should be more exciting but all I can think about is the software. There have been great advancements in VR hardware over the years but the software support seems to be shrinking rather than growing. Is there reason to believe things will be different this time regarding the Steam Frame and developers bothering to make interesting games that support the new hardware features?

SlappHappyPappy

Are you aware of the current status of x86 translation on android/arm devices? My phone (galaxy s24) is capable of running a decent portion of my Steam library with performance very close to my Steamdeck via gamehub oss or winlator bionic.

NobleHeroine

Technically a valve question, but not for the new machines. I believe you've discussed before why steam deck and other pc handhelds are not true competitor's to the switch and switch 2, that they don't address the same market. But why is that so? The technology itself is similar, the performance level comparable (between switch 2 and deck) and prices are within the same ballpark, at least when looking at steam deck. Yet the switch and switch 2 are massively more successful. Does this come down to the perception of these machines as "secondary devices", add-ons to one's gaming pc or, in the case of the Xbox device, a console, or is it more the more pc like nature of the device? Both? And does this suggest anything for the viability of the steam machine as true console competition for Sony and Microsoft, assuming that is Valve's goal?

MattGPT

With the recent announcement of the new Valve hardware and next week being the anniversary of HL (19th) and HL2 (16th), as well as the various rumours, what do you think the chances of next week's Direct involving a discussion about the newly announced (or possibly shadow dropped) Half Life 3? If not next week, do you think it will happen before Direct 1,000 (excluding specials) in 2040? Happy independenting!

Jacob Godserv

The approximated "7 TDP" available to games in the Steam Frame took me by surprise. That seems low! I was hoping to leave my Deck behind and just take my Frame on travel with my full catalog, even if it meant low settings. Are there any approximations yet for how this might handle different types of games in its standalone mode, and what kinds of compromises to expect, or is it too early to tell?

zephyr

Hi DF team! Now that SteamOS is breaking free of its mobile chains, do you think we’ll see it being officially supported for general desktop usage soon? Could 2026 finally be the year of the Linux desktop?

Brian

I was just about to post the same question - very curious about how Valve’s work on ARM might translate to Apple silicon.

Leddy Metal

Greetings to the DF brethren, Would it have not made more sense for Valve to concentrate on perfecting a hardware agnostic universal SteamOS distro rather than getting into the livingroom hardware business? I would be much more interested in building a consolised gaming PC if I had free reign to choose my hardware of choice and not have to deal with Windows. I am also not interested in getting into PC gaming, when the device offered is less powerful that a PS5 / Series X released 5 years ago.

PS3Inquisition

Hello DF squad. Ever since Alex’s declaration that “the PS3 sucks” in last week’s direct I’ve been contemplating a proper punishment for him. Perhaps locking him in a room with the PS3 version of Oblivion, his only means of escape completing 50 hours of playtime? Just a thought. Thanks for your time.

Series Xistential Crisis

What’s up Gabecube enthusiasts!! With the reveal of the new steam machine and considering what we think we know about the next “xbox” it seems the console market is perhaps shifting in an interesting direction. In a few years we’ll have everything from a traditional locked down OS console in the Switch 2 all the way to what are effectively gaming PC’s with varying degrees of custom overlays. My question to you is, what is your ideal console? If DF could design their own console, what would that look like? Keep up the great work!!

Eric Benoit

How do you think Microsoft will react to Valves hardware foray? Do you think they'll change course at all or are they still focusing on Tik Tok?

Tom Kirby-Green

So Mike Cerny broke radio silence to talk about what’s next. Gabe’s crew just took it to the next level for their platforms, do you think we’ll see a reaction from either Nintendo or Microsoft?

regawdless

Hello Gents! Is the GabeCube also.... an Xbox? And will you include it in your benchmarks and optimized settings videos in the future?

Alexander Davies

Hello DF gent le men! Now that Analogue have confirmed that the Analogue 3D (N64) truly exists and is shipping in the next few weeks, will you be taking a look at it? Are there any games that would you be keen to have seared into your eyeballs at 4K 20fps?

zurce

With both ps5 and switch 2 having incomplete subsets of hdmi 2.1 , and now the steam machine “hdmi 2.0” situation likely due to Linux not being hdmi 2.1 compatible Are we in out of options regarding full bandwidth video options? Can gamers unite and demand the hdmi consortium to support Linux or are we forever in the hands of chroma subs sample ? Is it time for demanding tvs and consoles to come with displayport ?

DieH@rd

Hello DF crew! After Valve showcased their new "these are not Xbox" devices, how can you see Steam platform evolving in the future? With the advancements in Proton and Fex, is there really a chance that after recent monumental Epic vs Google ruling (where "registered" external app stores will be allowed on Play Store worldwide), Valve will release Steam store on Android and provide access to thousands of PC titles directly on modern ARM smartphones?

Wormy

Hello people! We have seen Valve before stating they don't want to compete with the desktop experience but their announcement video showcases the GabeCube being used as a desktop workstation. Now, the Steam Frame will be built ARM based, likely with a compatibility layer for a desktop architechture. Do you think there's a chance in the future for Valve to push Linux into ARM, where Windows substantially bad?. It also seems like the logical step for a Steam Deck 2.

Snoopey0

Hey duffers, what do you all think is the likelihood of a next gen steam deck running on ARM instead of x86? Do you foresee that having any major battery life improvements? What about the possibility of an entirely Nvidia made CPU and GPU? Oh the possibilities exclamation point!

Wormy

How do you feel about recording and editing a two very long hands on videos without ever mentioning **AI** ? How does Alex feels for being about to review a new computer without having to read the word Copilot ever again? All this came out after MS announced Windows pointing to be a more "agentic" OS. Have a nice day!

Samdenn

Whaddup! While I'm super excited and impressed with all the advancements valve has made for these devices, I wonder if you have worries about the future of compatibility on PC? PC has always been a place for nearly perfect and nearly infinite backwards compatibility, but with all these translation layers interacting with each other, do you worry that Valve may be unintentionally normalizing fractured game compatibility on the platform?

Wormy

Windows is terrible on ARM too. The only competition would be Apple.

Gaboou

A warm welcome of sorts, dear DFers! I was wondering how the process of writing an article that accompanies a video works - does Sam watch the finished work and 'simply' converts it to text or does the process start earlier and in parallel with video production? I'm under the impression that Sam does his own additional research and tries to put further information in there... Either way: the written publications are a great thing! Greetings and salutations!

Maxim

Long time viewer, recent subscriber on patreon to support your noble endeavours and recent indepedance. Congratulations once again. A common request for modern consoles is support for 21:9 ultrawide. As an intellectual myself, I long for the return of 4:3 for use on my diamontron tube. Alas, neither are available, and would require developers to also support the option in games. Though Nintendo and Sony's vast classics libraries should work in 4:3 right out of the gate. With the steam machine inevitably being capable of this, and Sony's recent acknowledgement of desktop gaming with their upcoming monitor and desktop speakers, is multiple aspect ratio support now more likely than ever? Or are we forever doomed under the totalitarian rule of 16:9?

Wormy

Hello DF Crew! Regarding Horizon: Steel Frontiers. Is there any info or clue on which engine is it going to be based on? I believe that might be an indicator on how much Guerrilla is involved. If it is Decima, we would be about to see it in Mobile platforms for the first time. BTW New Horizon game announced and Valve wipes the board. The Horizon Curse is still on :(

Ian

Surely this is just a question of the box being over £2000 vs considerably more affordable? You can already buy a 2in1 with the AI 395 max in its about £2300.

S1kkZ

hi there. while the upcoming steam machine is not the powerhouse some people expected and a steamdeck 2 nowhere in sight, does this create a new "porting cycle" that will benefit the industry? what i mean is: the rumored ps handheld, switch 2, ps5 base, steamdeck and steam machine are all benefiting from each other: a great version for one of these machines, makes ports to all the others much more likely (and probably easier/cheaper for developers). could this be an antidote to exploding development budgets and gaming prices? videogames cannot afford to become a hobby for only the wealthy, if it wants to survive.

Ian

Afternoon Dfers. As a steam deck owner I’ve been waiting for the steam machine to come back. I wonder how much you think the 8Gb VRAM will hold it back - and secondly whether you think the recent RAM cost increases are why they have opted for this rather than a 32Gb unified memory pool as we see for example in the legion go 2?

Gaboou

Hey there! Half-Life 1 was released in 1998 (27 years ago) and HL2 in 2004 (21 years ago)... 🤪 But maybe you don't want to feel too old - I get it! 🤭

Abandoned Walnut

Dearest fellows of the digital foundry. Loved the recent content on valves new hardware. I do worry a little about the long term value of an 8gb gpu in it though. With the steam deck, valve seem understandably reluctant to regularly update it. Do you think it's possible that this will be the same for the steam machine or do you think we might get more frequent updates to the specs. I confess in it's current state it's just not quite appealing enough but something a little faster with at least 16gb vram would be right up my street as we say here in the UK! Cheers.

PS2: Judgement Day

Hello gents. First time, long time. How will the lack of adoption of 8K displays impact the next gen consoles and how developers choose to make their games? Every preceding generation came out a few years after the release of a new resolution of TV (PS360->720p, PS4->1080p, PS5->4k), but the PS6/Nextbox will come out seemingly without 8k having taken off. Will devs simply put the higher horsepower into ray tracing features, or will we see more native 4k titles. I’ll hang up and take my answer off the air.

Skyrimfest 26 FPS Edition

Steam Machine looks great in many respects, but I can't help feeling a Steam Deck 2 with a better dock would have been the winning product for people with large Steam libraries and perhaps a better competitor for the consoles - Switch 2 in particular.

Alexandru Stefanica

we aren't talking about AI machines though (and you can find cheaper at something like 1500$). Would the price really go to 2000£ for a better design without 128GB lpddr5 8000, dual 10G ethernet, 2TB storage and so on ? I kinda doubt it (though I'd expect it to be around 800 - 1000$ range) . If what GN said is true, it will anywho be more expensive than a console, in the range of mini PCs (at which point I kinda struggle to see the value of that hw)

Roel

Hello gentlemen! With Valve seemingly being quite committed to supporting ARM given their involvement/investment in FEX, what are the chances of them using it in future hardware other than Steam Frame? Do you think it is at all plausible at all for a Steam Deck 2? Is there currently any non-Apple ARM chip out there that would match the desired power-performance profile for such a device?

Peter Leatherbarrow

Hello There. The Steam Frame with it's ARM processor can supposedly run .apk files. This got me wondering, would be possible for the work done on the Proton/FEX x86 emulation layer to be used to one day run Steam/Windows games directly on Android devices (existing Phones, tablets, gaming devices), and then hypothetically a Steam Store & Launcher itself. Or does the emulation layer only work when the operating system itself has been built with it in mind.

CABBAC

Hello Foundry Digital. Do you think Valve have royally screwed up by not advertising the Steam Machine as adorably all-digital and what do you think the ramifications of this clear error of judgement will mean to their marketing efforts?

DudleyTheGentleman

Hello again distinguished leaders of the Anti-Stutter Coalition! During Intel's recent "Technology Tour", Tom Peterson briefly talked about Intel's research into Cooperative Vectors as it relates to the future of rendering. The most interesting part of that talk was the concept of replacing geometry with a neural model. What are your thoughts on this potential paradigm shift? Are traditional triangle/polygonal meshes going away, likely to eventually be replaced with a neural model, or some form of 3D volume, as path-tracing slowly becomes the norm? How would such a future impact GPU designs?

10 Bespoke’s In a Trench Coat

Hey there Tech Wizards, hope you are well! There's been a recent story break about Pokémon Pokopia being a game key card on Switch 2. This for me is the culmination of what I was worried about when it comes to the key card product, essentially making a "premier" Nintendo title eventually becoming defunct over the years. Thoughts? (I know Alex loves talking Switch 2 controversy)

Someguyperson

RE: The PS5 going until 2030 - Surely Sony implies there will be 2 more years until the PS6 comes out with another 3 years of cross-gen after that, right? Sony wouldn't heave Mark Cerny out there talking about tech that is coming out on hardware 5 years down the line, right?

Someguyperson

An issue I saw made the Nintendo patch list, '“Stop Charging Around 90%” was renamed and updated to “Stop Charging Around 80-90%” ' Have you guys seen this issue?

James

Gents. The pull of the new Steam Machine for couch gamers is compelling. No gamepass for online play will be a big saver. Could we have an xbox killer on our hands? And if indeed it changes the console market, what are the future implications for game ownership (as opposed to the creep of digital landlord-ism) across the range of consoles?

Someguyperson

Well, it looks like I was half right a year ago. The Steam Machine 2.0 is a real product, but it has a seemingly anemic set of specs compared to the Strix Halo I postulated as the Steam Machine 2.0 SoC. Do you think 3rd party OEMs will make their own Steam Machine running SteamOS with a Strix Halo?

Ferrari Frank

Guten Tag! Why do console games mostly only offer 30 or 60 frame modes? Devices like the Steam Deck or even the Series S version of RE Village made me appreciate 45 frames. It looks way smoother than 30 without having so many graphical downgrades. Wouldn’t the Switch 2 or similar consoles profit from that?

Someguyperson

Do you think Nvidia GPUs will be supported by SteamOS anytime soon? I would expect SteamOS adoption on desktop to be relatively lackluster until that happens.

Someguyperson

Epic seems to have fixed several performance issues in UE 5.7. Is there a possibility that UE 5 might actually be performant out of the box and that the issues Alex has been ranting about for years might finally get fixed in the next couple years?

Someguyperson

The game won't come out for months and they almost assuredly haven't started making cards for the game yet, so all that is just hearsay.

Someguyperson

TV manufacturers thought 3D support was the next big thing in the middle of those examples you gave. Some features are worth it and some aren't. HDR is absolutely worth it, but the standards are a bit of a mess. I still expect HDR to be the next big thing once they figure out the branding of it all.

Someguyperson

I can't tell if you're trolling or being serious with the 45 FPS thing. 40 FPS in a 120 Hz container is probably what you're looking for there.

TheAdam

Hey DF Crew! Just a simple short question. Why did Valve did not choose Nvidia? Thanks in advance!!!

Ian

He’s being serious the steam deck OLED is a 90hz panel so 45fps target is common.

Ian

It’s not a Nintendo developed game.

Someguyperson

The inverse is also interesting; would Microsoft make their own Linux store to put on SteamOS? Is that how Microsoft will counter the Steam Machines?

Ian

Valve has said that they won’t touch steam deck 2 till they can get a significant performance boost (I think they are looking for multiples not fractions) at the same or similar TDP. There is no significant performance boost available at 15W yet. Not the order of magnitude valve are looking for. I want a steam deck 2 but valve are right to wait imo. And it looks likely based on their comments to be 2027 or 2028. The steam machine though I think helps SD owners as you can stream from it to SD which I think extends the SD life for those not already doing so with a gaming PC.

Brooks's Law is Alive

Yesssss, Rich! I’m an owner of a Steam Deck and a high-end PC, so I may not be the target demographic, but I watched your coverage of the new Steam Machine with fascination at the hardware choices. As I watched, I couldn’t help but wonder if a Strix Halo APU could’ve provided multiple benefits, including a more powerful CPU, a more modern RDNA 3.5 GPU, and a larger shared pool of memory that would alleviate some pressure we’ll see on the 8GB of dedicated VRAM. Meanwhile, memory pricing bears separate consideration. My layman’s research suggests that 32GB of LPDDR5X could be had for approximately 10% more US dollars than the combination of 16GB DDR5 and 8GB GDDR6. Although we’re talking about a premium APU, with the benefit of hindsight, do you think it would’ve made since for Valve to go upmarket with this kind of configuration?

1040STF

The Crossover translation layer is alreay great : despite it, I have less or equal latency than on consoles with the same games. And there's tremendous work done by the Asahi community on adapting Linux on Apple Silicon. So I guess with their knowledge of Linux, it might not be impossible that Valve has even better results than those already two great solutions...

Someguyperson

I have one ordered and I'm very interested to see if they will increase the clocks or something to help the games run faster than normal. There's basically no information about the thing until people get the console in-hand. Banjo-Kazooie & Banjo-Tooie are easily some of my favorite games and I'm very interested in seeing the performance of them on the 3D. As a 10 year old, I remember the first time I really remembered frame rate drops was in Cloud Cluckoo land in Banjo-Tooie.

Orcacle

Hey Digital Foundrees! Since the reveal of the new Steam Machine, tech enthusiast groups of mine have been cautious and sceptical about the performance of the RDNA 3 GPU. Especially the "4k 60 with upscaling" claim, as well as RT performance. Do you think this is warranted, or is real-world testing needed? Will Valve's mentions of 3rd party Steam Machines with alternative configurations be the answer? Cheers

Pol Arbequina

I will say my piece on this if that's okay, apologies if I'm budding in. To begin with, SteamOS is not supported for anything other that Steam Deck/Machine and Legion Go S at this current time. And they've not announced that it will be released publicly anytime soon. But if you're asking for something like BazziteOS or another Linux distro, Nvidia already has a set of propiretary drivers that work on Linux and it's on them to support it. Valve can only ask Nvidia if they want to support a specific set of drivers for their OS. I'm just trying to drive the conversation towards Nvidia here, they are the ones that need to do most of the work to get there and be willing to do it

Pol Kallamata

As a big fan of the Steam Deck for the past three years, conceptually I find the newly revealed GabeCube very exciting. But I am disappointed to see a spec that's similar to a 2020 base PS5 being released in 2026. Yet with handhelds, Valve has started working with third party manufacturers like Lenovo on creating additional Steam OS devices. Do you expect that in a year's time will we see a GabeStation Professional from ASUS or Lenovo ship with a 9070XT to realize the vision of a zero-compromises living room PC-Console hybrid?

Pol Arbequina

Good morning foundry gents! What a week! I think it's impressive that Valve has announced the same thing that, for many weeks, we've been speculating that Xbox will do in a couple-ish years. With the exception that everyone is very positive about Valve doing it (it helps to see the real product). The specs of the device suggest that we'll generally be in the same realm as current gen consoles (base PS5 and Sereies X), maybe a tad less performant but potentially with FSR4 in the future. Do you envision that this could be a problem when, a year or so after the release of the Steam Machine, the PS6 comes out with much better specs? Have a great day!

cdytoby

Hi DF guys! I watched a lot about the information regarding to the new hardwares. The VR Headset, Steam Frame, concerns me a lot. I have a Vive Pro (the first one), with 3 Base Stations and a pair of knuckle controllers, with the new Steam Frame announced, it seems I can't just upgrade my headset and keep playing as it is, because tracking is different. Do you think Valve will eventually release base station compatible hardware, or will they abandon the base station tracking system? I just want the new Headset, with reasonable price, and with existing tracking system. Thanks in advance.

Rectangle Boy

Hello, there! Open-ended, speculative question here: The Steam Machine seems to lower the threshold for maintaining a Linux and getting Windows-native applications running on a Linux, particularly without all the Windows 11 nonsense we’ve all regrettably had to put up with lately. The Steam Frame seems to lower the threshold for getting software from a variety of sources running on a (hopefully-)solid VR platform. Even the Steam Controller, particularly with its USB->wireless puck, seems to try to lower the threshold for compatibility with a variety of PC and PC-adjacent hardware. What sorts of new, maybe non-gaming, innovations do you see coming from Valve’s enablement of these technologies through the Steam {Machine,Frame,Controller}?

Kirkland Spector

The Steam Machine is here! Do you think Valve might eventually take a similar approach with SteamOS in the living room — moving toward third-party Steam Machines like they did with the Deck? I could see companies like ASUS or Lenovo building higher-powered, premium systems that run official SteamOS. This current Steam Machine is a bit underpowered for my tastes, but a bEEfy boy would turn my head! Much love from San Francisco ❤️

ShadyPinesSteve

Greetings, Digital Founders! Will the new Steam controller work with Xbox PC games or only games that launch out of Steam? Will I be able to control the mouse on my Windows desktop with it? Thanks!

Pol Arbequina

Good morning foundry gents! I think the announcement of dev kits for the Steam Machine and Frame is very exciting. Have we had something like this before? How do you think this can change the current development landscape for PCs? Other than getting pre-compiled shaders for the Machine, or dare I say it, the GabeCube. Have a great day!

Marcus

Hiya Foundrymen! My most interested in product from the Valve device bonanza is the steam controller (2). Which really seems like a very impressive piece of kit. 8 ms of latency according to IGN’s interview is impressive and touchpads are great for PC gaming of course, not to mention steam input and that impressive community support. Could this move the needle for the Xbox controller dominance on PC? Thank you for your time and great work!

Xfiles_Frohikee

Good day gentlemen. Regarding the steam machine 2026. I am not sure how anyone can provide any positive remarks to the steam machine with only 8GB of vram if pricing is going to be $800+ USD. Tbh even at 500, with a ps5 pro at 750 USD. Unless there is going to be a drastic leap forward in memory compression streaming, I'm not sure how we can avoid all the known issues with previously reviewed hardware and recommendations. Please help me understand the place in the market this device will serve and justification beyond keeping the price down.

curdstar

Hola, Digital Foundry peeps! Could a case not be made that the Steam Machine is in fact looking at the future of gaming by making preservation of it's past more accessible, first and foremost? I mean, sure, maybe the hardware won't blast through the latest and greatest, but it will offer arguably the most performant versions older games and not that older games. There are tons of PS3/360 generation games (and older!) that are essentially unavailable on current gen machines, or your only option is to stream those rickety PS3/360 versions. The Steam Machine changes that. Plus, emulation. Steamdeck already is a bit of an emulation beast, so this thing will take emulation to the couch player. I can't help but think that the real power, the real USP of the device, is something Valve can't reallty talk about or promote. Could a case not also be made that 8gb VRAM becomes the new floor for some time for what looks like a cross-gen, from handlheld to main screen to handheld, future? Oh, and then you can throw the money saved from no PS/Xbox membership at GeForce Now, negating the need to worry too much about 'will it run it'. Sales will ensure people might pick up a game for cheap that the Steam Machine might struggle with but can bypass that with a GeFprce Now sub, providing they have the connection speed. Thoughts? I know that's a lot!

omega tom hanks

Oliver blink twice if they let you see half life 3 at valve hq

Sherif

Strix Halo is too expensive for its performance level. That ended the conversation before it began.

Chris Wiest

Hello everyone, does the Steam Frame support tethering over USB C?

Sherif

Greetings Analogue Disassembly. With Sony claiming we’re only half way into the PS5 generation and Valve releasing the Steam Machine with RDNA 3, it feels like we’re pressing pause on RT and AI upscaling for mainstream gaming. This feels good for existing hardware, but as someone that has seen the light of NVIDIA DLSS and RT/Path Tracing, I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that we won’t have those features as a baseline for the foreseeable future. Do you all feel the same?

LooneyMango

Interested to what extent you all are bothered by Valve marketing the Steam Machine as 4K60 capable (with FSR)? I'm not a huge fan of companies marketing devices as specific resolution/fps capable, since games can perform so variably, as you mentioned in the DF coverage. More than this though, I'm not entirely sure (on average in newer AAA titles) that this will be 4K capable. The GPU seems slightly lower in performance than a RX 7600, which whilst a reasonable GPU, is not exactly high performance. Even the RX 7600 is more aiming for about 1440p or 1080p with FSR set to quality/balanced. Being RDNA 3, it lacks any ML upscaling, which adds to this feeling of it being less than ideal for 4K60 quality as people may picture it. 4K with FSR 2/3 set to the lower levels just doesn't look particularly pleasing to my eye. Also the 8 GB of VRAM could be further impacted with 4K output. Then again, the PS5 and Series X (heavily marketed for 4K) also make use of non-ML upscaling from much lower internal resolutions, so maybe it is reasonable for Valve to do the same? To be clear, I really like the look of the products announced, and despite some concerns, especially around VRAM, I think they all should be great. Of course, a key point will be price, but assuming they can keep that at a reasonable level, I have few issues. Also really enjoying the new DF site! Keep up the good work!

Someguyperson

Valve did mention that other OEMs could make their own Steam Machines in the future and good with relatively off the shelf AMD components means SteamOS could be developed into something that anyone could install on their own (like Bazzite). Valve went a bit too hard of the "Linux everywhere" aspect for Steam Machines 1.0 and I think their takeaway was that they needed a polished experience before moving forward, and that has worked for them. It's a bit of a push for them to spend the time required for a polished experience vs. the community clamoring for that experience on more devices. That's also why I feel it's a good discussion topic.

DenuvoFan68

Do you think that we might be going in to a "plateau" or "pause" of the continous pursuit towards more realistic graphics? Publishers and developers have complained for a long time that the development cost of AAA games has become unsustainable. With both PS and Xbox launching low-powered mobile devices, and a general trend of rising chip costs, do you think we will go in to generation where AAA graphics really don't get much more detailed or complex then they already are today?

Someguyperson

Too expensive for $500, absolutely. But, the PC community will absolutely pay more for a better experience. Valve's thermal design could easily handle a Strix Halo at full bore and I fully expect there to be a small audience that wants that level of performance under their TV without messing with a PC. The total addressable market is pretty small for the cost of a Strix Halo, but the messaging of having that on the high end and the (presumably) low price of the base Gabecube looks like a really strong marketing message that would pull a lot of people into the fold there.

Mog

As the festive season approaches, one's thoughts turn to the Ghost of Phoenix Past and their patented 3X loading times. Pray tell, is there a chance of the return of this whimsical, ethereal presence?

Paul Trainor

Hi DF, I basically bought my steam deck with the intention of using it docked and all i ever use my psvr2 for is Half life alix, so the GabeCube and the steam frame seem directly marketed to me. What do you think the chances of a release of some big Valve IP to coincide with the launches are? Half-life 3, vr co-op Portal? Thanks Guys

Rectangle Boy

Some things I think of related to this: - A car technician installed some car diagnostic software on their Steam Deck so they didn’t have to lug around a laptop to get diagnostics. - Entire companies exist to get old operating systems (e.g. Windows 95) working on modern hardware to support extremely old software (often to control expensive old machinery). - Back when it was basically just the Valve Index and HTC Vive for high end VR (2017-18?), my friends were buying all kinds of crazy powerful third party accessories to enable new functionality (e.g. wireless beaming of data to the headset to remove the need for a tether). - In the amateur/academic robotics community, I see a lot of folks using Xbox 360 controllers. At one conference, I got to drive a bomb defusal robot (they found it on eBay??) that they reverse engineered to have an Xbox 360 controller control it.

AGSMA

Hi Deefers! I'm out of town and I have yet to watch your breakdown on the Steam Frame, but I'll make this question, anyway. As someone who didn't care much about VR, Valve's new headset solves one of my main issues, that being a limited library, by letting me play non-VR Steam games with a pair of goggles. Curious to know what is the experience of having what's essentially a flat 2D image covering your entire field of view. Thanks, and looking forward to watch your coverage once I get home.

10 Bespoke’s In a Trench Coat

This has been confirmed by Nintendo to be a game key card, as well as being in pre-order listings and promotional material, so not hearsay

Frederic

Hi DF team! Thanks as always for your great weekly coverage and huge congrats on your independence—I'm a proud patron! My question comes in two folds. Have Rich, Oliver, or John (not forgetting Alex distaste for handhelds 🤣) had a chance to test the new high-performance handhelds, especially those now running SteamOS like the Lenovo Legion Go S with the Z1 Extreme or Z2? I'm keen to know if they're truly worth buying over the Steam Deck OLED (yes, John, I know your stance on LCDs!). Furthermore, as a lifelong console gamer who's been drawn in by the talk of seamless SteamOS, I'm intrigued by the trajectory of the PC handheld market: Do you feel this is emerging as a major new entry point for console users into the PC space, potentially serving as a perfect companion device to their main console? Love the show. Keep up the hard work!

Alan

Hi Guys, Surely a Steam Box is more appealing to PC players than a NextBox? Given their dislike for Microsoft but affinity for Valve, a Steam Box with comparable specifications would likely dominate the market.

Alan

Hi Guys, PlayStation's business boss, Eric Lempel said in an interview with BBC News "the title which would become the PS5's biggest seller hadn't even been released yet." what do you think or hope this game is? GTA6 is the obvious contender, but surely he was talking about first party, so Wolverine, the rumoured Naughty Dog or Sony Santa Monica IP?

Gary Cormack

Question for the DF Crew: Early tests show Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection has around 100 ms of input lag on PlayStation over six frames, which is unacceptable in a fighting game. What’s mind-boggling is that in 2025, MAME is still the better way to play the arcade games at home, delivering vastly lower latency even on modest PCs. Digital Eclipse have already released a patch, yet it’s done little to fix the lag. Given that their Bakesale Engine powers this release, what’s actually causing all the extra delay? Is it engine level buffering, forced V-Sync, or inefficient emulation layers? And realistically, can this ever be patched closer to MAME-level responsiveness, or is that simply not possible with this engine?

Brian Hoyt

Hi guys! I imagine this will be answered in the discussion but just in case I am most curious of a comparison of the new Steam Machine spec vs the PS5 / XSX. Then secondly speculation on a comparison with PS6 and Xbox Next. Is this new Steam machine targeted at current or future games.

Topher Redden

The GabeCube has a lot of hype, and Proton has been very impressive, but I can't see how it can really compete in the console space until it can attract games like BF6, which means solving anti-cheat AND some specific targeting of the hardware like a game does on console. Do you imagine Valve see it this way, and would be having these conversations? I worry that they don't actually care about that, as they make way more money off store front from other games, and don't need a 'console seller' so to speak.

Jiminy the 26th

I had a joke about a chiropractor, but I told it a week back. When Sony said the PS5 is “in the middle of its lifecycle” they also referenced the PS4 as an example, noting that its lifecycle keeps getting longer. The PS4 generation lasted 7 years, with support confirmed till early 2026. Since it seems like Sony wants to extend the lifecycle instead of the generation, how many years will the PS5 last for? My guess is 2035 latest.

Jiminy the 26th

Congrats on 1 and a half million subscribers!

AfreemTheDream

Greetings, Foundrymen! Why only an 8GB VRAM version of the Steam Machine? Even in these difficult financial times people still seem to find the funds to buy higher end tech, so why not at least offer a higher end variant? Also, do you think the proliferation of financing options is why people can afford to buy high end tech? How do people keep affording it?? Cheers!

sj33 (Jake)

Hi all, If I were Satya Nadella, I’d be asking how on earth Valve has managed to bring their OS into 3 different markets (living room, handheld, VR) while Microsoft have spent 30 years failing to get Windows beyond the desktop. I reckon there will be quite a few console owners thinking ‘why don’t I try that Steam thing I keep hearing about’, not even necessarily replacing their existing PlayStation but in addition to it. The upcoming Xbox might be a fair bit more powerful, but it sounds like it’s going to be far too expensive to address that audience.

Jimbojones

Do you think the Steam Machine will try and solve some lingering issues with the SteamOS ecosystem. Some people would probably love it for games like Peak or R.E.P.O and those Steam/PC only games that blow up in popularity but anticheat getting in the way of games like fortnite, COD , Roblox and other big multiplayer games would probably be a deal breaker. Access to other stores is another sticking point, Heroic and Lutris are not exactly the most user friendly and at worst actively hostile which is problematic for a open PC environment where a windows based machine would not have this problem. Personally I think people would be far less forgiving with these aspects on a dedicated box vs a handheld. Interested to hear your thoughts.

(Don’t be a) Richard

Valve clearly has put a lot of effort into its ARM/x86 translation layer to support an ARM chipset in the headset. Is this an indicator that Valve would be strongly considering ARM for a future handheld. At the very least it provides them greater flexibility now in relation to chip suppliers, especially as they target low power draw options. It looks like a lot of work to develop the translation layer for just a headset, so a broader adoption of ARM by Valve in its own hardware, or if they make SteamOS available to other OEMs, seems to make sense as a future direction. Also, I appreciate the team will be under strict direction from Valve not to talk about this, so in the interest of discreteness, blink twice if they showed you a Steam Deck 2 during your visit.

(Don’t be a) Richard

Last week Alex gave us a new camera angle for the Direct and I couldn’t help but notice the guitar behind him. What do we need to do to convince him to play some live backing music as Rich delivers his Direct closure monologue around liking and subscribing this week?

TomDiLaurentis

Hi DF Team, As a big fan of mixed reality, I was a bit disappointed to see that the Steam Frame only features monochrome passthrough. Have you had a chance to test its passthrough capabilities yet? How does the image quality compare to other headsets? And do you know if mixed reality games will even be supported on the device? Thanks in advance, love your work!

Michael Pearn

Hey DF crew, the only handheld or console like device that has a non AMD solution is the Switch 2 and, let’s be honest, Nintendo aren’t known to wring the neck out of technology to get the best in cutting edge visuals. Is there any realistic chance of a handheld or hybrid console device coming along that uses Nvidia for its GPU tech? Do you think Microsoft would break up this AMD saturation in this space and use Nvidia for its “nextBox”?

(Don’t be a) Richard

When talking to Valve and perhaps even looking at their Steam Deck pricing, is there indication that Valve can and will leverage their advantage of owning Steam, and the revenue it produces, to offer its new hardware at a low margin that other competitors in the space generally can’t achieve, such as ASUS or MSI.

Bazlurgan

Good day fine Gentlemen… Simple question, will the Steam Machine (similar to Steam Deck), include pre loading of shader cache? If so, then this is a fantastic feature which hasn’t been touched upon by the previews and trailers to-date.

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hello Gents! With Valve now embracing ARM compatibility, when do you think we’ll see a Steam Deck Mini with an ARM CPU and a sweet 120hz OLED? Cheers

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hey Gentlemen! With both Alex and Tom playing a guitar, when will we hear the first DF Jam Session? Cheers!

Anxiously Chrono Triggered

Hi Gentlemen! How likely do you think it is for Valve to release a Gabe Cube Pro in next two years with a GPU that runs FSR4 natively? Cheers!

nibblenibblesqueesquee

Do you think that the Steam Machine could represent the best way to run certain troubled pc releases like FF7 Remake, Elden Ring, Ghostrunner, and Dead Space that were never fixed by their developers? I’m tantalized by the prospect of the Steam Machine being a better platform than the PS5 Pro for running Elden Ring given how Valve managed to get the game running acceptably on the Steam Deck using Proton-level tweaks and pre-compiled shaders!

Magnumstache

Can you foresee the new Steam Machine making use of a more console-like approach to running games to mitigate deficiencies in VRAM capacity? The Steam Machine is effectively a fixed architecture like a console (albeit without unified memory) so can the guaranteed presence of a fast SSD, coupled with perhaps one or two "Steam Machine Verified" performance options (discouraging incessant tinkering) be leveraged to reduce reliance on storing assets in VRAM?

Will Cooling

Congratulations on being included in the Steam Machine rollout - testament to your value as an independent outlet. One thing I was thinking, is the thing that makes me most tempted to get into PC Gaming is not AAAA Titles as these will come on consoles anyway, but retro/indie games. Could we get a Steam Machine Lite version at some point that lowered the computing power and cost, to allow people to play the next Pizza Tower or Balatro at an affordable amount.

DaJaCo (Dan)

Happy Half-Fortnight Lads! To what extent do you think the "GabeCube's" exiguous 8 GBs of VRAM will be facilitated by the relatively low memory bandwidth of the Switch 2 and upcoming Playstation Portable.. ..and do you think Valve will have an RDNA 5 "GabeCube Ultra" (maybe with a lunchbox handle) ready to go up against PS6 and Xbox Magnus in 2027 / 2028 - It feels like it would be a missed opportunity if they did not, as such a large performance gulf would open up. Perhaps at the end of the day, valve only expects it to have a Half-Life?

Buttertop

Hey gents! Given that Valve is now experimenting with ARM support with the Steam Frame, and a recent Ars Technica article that seems to hint that Valve's engineers are waiting for a massive performance per watt increase that simply doesn't exist yet, it sure seems that Steam Deck 2 will likely end up being ARM. What are the chances that Deck 2 will instead use an AMD Xilinx based ARM APU, instead of the usual slop from Qualcomm? Thanks and have a good weekend!

ShyLink

Greetings, Foundrymen! Your previous discussion on the giant leap between the 5th and 6th console generation left me wondering: Is it possible consoles moved to 3D too soon? What would the industry have looked like if Sony and Nintendo had followed Sega's original plan for the Saturn and we had a whole new generation of high-quality 2D gaming? Primitive polygon rendering would still be an option for developers and feature in certain games, but there wouldn't be, say, Nintendo's mandate to go all in with 3D with the N64. Would we miss out on ground-breaking classics like Mario 64 or would they have just arrived in the next generation in more polished form?

Wormy

I miss Windows phone :(

Tony Escobar

I’m so happy to be back. The renewed focus on Retro and your independence have brought me back as a Patreon supporter. I do have one question: is Will Judd still a part of DF?

MattGPT

Will stayed with IGN when DF gained their freedom, he is the IGN deputy tech editor now writing content for a few of the sites in that group. I am sure there was a comment at some point from ?Rich? on here or Discord when asked that it was not their announcement to make, but they remain friends, understand his reasons and wish him well.

MattGPT

Hello gents, enjoying your SteamThings coverage and so pleased Valve recognised your value now you are sovereign and invited you to their HQ to cover these. You have mentioned slight concerns about the 8GB of VRAM being a potential issue on the Steam Machine, but I am wondering that considering the Deck seems to be much more VRAM efficient that a Windows PC at the same settings do you think Valve are using that as a considerable part of their cost/performance judgement? Would that potentially mean for normal raster graphics it probably will not be an issue but for RT and upscaling that usually need more VRAM, the system might find itself much more constrained there? As it looks like GDDR6 costs around $28 per 8GB, was this a cost saving really worth making, or do other factors like changes to system architecture bring the cost up more significantly? Happy independenting!

MattGPT

MS have already confirmed that the next Xbox runs on an AMD APU.

MattGPT

Why is it an issue? It will further improve battery life because currently the S2 does lots of small charges to keep topped up at 90%, where as with a range it can let it run down a bit, then top up after days/weeks as needed.

Spodlude

Hi Gents, with valve beating Microsoft to the market in a way with a PC console hybrid, who stands best placed to compete in this new category? Have valve jumped the gun with hardware seemingly incapable of the latest feature set (FSR4), will the machine learning hardware in Microsoft's new box place them at a significant performance and image quality advantage? Will consumers care? Will valve be able to break into xbox's proposed new market segment or vice versa?

Someguyperson

The wording specifically mentioned 90%, but some devices (like mine) stopped charging around 80% instead, which is a large difference. While they didn't fix the Switch 2's charging to always stop at 90%, they did change the wording around the setting to properly reflect reality. If you are going to make a setting, you always need to accurately describe what it does. The setting itself isn't an issue.

spud19870

Hello DF team, some very exciting news with the Steam Machine and controller. I wondered how they will encourage the console like plug and play experience? You mentioned in your video there's always an element of tweaking from the user on these PC hybrids to get games running in an optimal way. Consoles are very much plug and play. How will that gap be bridged? Lastly, the controller looks really cool. Did they mention anything about it being compatible with consoles or will it be PC/Steam Machine only. Thank you for the great break down on this.

Mr.Pirotech

I don't know. I'd like to see full-fat FSR4 on new devices. It's a shame that a device with limited compute power needs to rely on basically obsolete technology. On the controller side, I'd also expect it to support adaptive triggers as the DualSense controller has. But overall, this is the only PC I, as a console person, would consider purchasing. Steam/PC games are usually cheaper, so this could be a nice companion console for a future PS6 and PC for LAN parties.

Ednamode

Assuming Steam Machine supports integer scaling like the Steam Deck, how much more tolerable will 1080p be than it currently is? I swear games look blurrier now than they did last generation and I'm wondering how much bad console/tv upscaling is to blame.

StefanSt

The Valve announcement is so exciting - much more than the PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2, which are just iterations of existing platforms. I finally get my “Phantom," and my dream for many years is finally realized. Do you think it will attract existing Steam users "only" - or will they be able to reach traditional console gamers?

digitalfoundry

That's exactly what they did with the $399 Steam Deck

digitalfoundry

7W is for streaming, I believe. Max 20W for gaming.

Bespoke To Soon

I haven't thought about the phantom in decades!!

Xfiles_Frohikee

good day esteemed digital foundry workers of the self-owned kind. I’m curious if you will put together an approximate Steam Machine with currently available parts to see how such a device would perform, using Bazzite instead of the OS that shall not be named. I enjoyed the work you did on the Switch-2-like system prior to its release. Thank you.

Steven Milne

Yesssssss Rich - I've noticed a lot of games the use UE5 use "software Lumen" - which has a major performance impact because it's run in software. However, with more and more hardware supporting ray tracing, etc - is it baffling that those games don't give the user the option of running lumen in hardware instead? Wouldn't hardware lumen be more performant on PCs and other hardware that have extensive ray tracing support and/or more GPU horsepower?

BespokeEP

I know I've missed the cut off for questions but just providing some much needed context of what the CFO meant when she said PS5 is at the half way point, she was referring to its manufacturing life, PS4 had an 11 year cycle. I mean do people already forget the fake outrage they had 1.5years ago at their Q4 earnings when they said the PS5 was entering the second half of its life. People need to stop treating PlayStation like Xbox. PlayStation executives choose their words very carefully and they stick to it, Xbox twists words, with intention of deception, people falling for this "biggest technological leap ever" BS have obviously already forgot when they said that exact same thing about Series X

VeryProfessionalDodo

This is my perspective, but if they grab people from console, it's probably only going to be the enthusiast console gamers (who haven't built a PC yet). People keep forgetting that until Steam Hardware is in retail stores, it's just not going to get mainstream traction and cause a meaningful impact on console sales

VeryProfessionalDodo

In a sense, isn't that what people are doing with the Steam Deck and dock?

VeryProfessionalDodo

As someone who already tried FF7 Remake on Windows and Linux, I'm confortable in saying that the Steam Machine won't bring more of an edge to this than running a Linux PC when it comes to frame time health

VeryProfessionalDodo

Unfortunately, it's the chicken and egg situation. Linux, as much as hype as it has, only recently accounted for 3% of the audience. If Valve, with Proton and Steam Deck, only achieved 3% of the total pie after 5 years of intense developent, it's hard for a dev to justify the amount of time spent figuring out anti-cheat on Linux. There were rumblings of a way to verify system integrity on the Linux side as a safety guard to ensure the system was clean, but I don't think anything came of it

VeryProfessionalDodo

It's surely more appealing to PC players, but I don't think it's going to sell as much as people are hyping it up. If Valve does put Steam Machines in retail though, that will be a completely different story, but I wonder whether they want to sacrifice probably tight margins

Bryan Langley

Can you share with the DF audience current specs for each host's PC? I'd be interested to know what your daily drivers are. Are any of you running a low profile RTX 3050 on the quiet?