Baldur’s Gate 3 publishing director Michael Douse says Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine will not be a high-spec box because there is “genuinely no point” when the audience that wants demanding PC performance on a TV already knows how to turn a PC into a Steam Machine. Valve has not released full specs or pricing yet. Early comparisons put the Steam Machine’s hardware somewhere between the Xbox Series S and a base PS5 or Xbox Series X, which hints at a focus on affordability rather than raw power.
Value is central to the pitch said Douse as a reason the device could follow the Steam Deck’s path. The Steam Deck lowered the barrier to entry for PC gaming on the go. That same idea applied to the living room could create a clear entry point for prebuilt, TV-friendly PCs priced within reach of more players. “Genuinely no point making a high-spec Steam Machine,” Douse wrote on X. He added that there is “massive opportunity” in the prebuilt market but no consistent entry point right now because options range from modest $500 boxes to extreme $5000 rigs.
Part of Douse’s view is that storefronts may determine the living room more than hardware brands do. He suggested a future where many manufacturers ship Linux-based TV PCs and storefronts like Steam, Epic, and Microsoft determine the software ecosystem and discoverability. That outlook intersects with recent moves in the Baldur’s Gate 3 ecosystem. The game added a native Steam Deck build in Hotfix 34 to improve performance and console stability, showing how developers continue to optimise for Valve’s ecosystem and its handheld-first mindset.
Possible that living room will not be dominated by a handful of branded machines rather that the war for the livingroom will be storefronts, with many many manufacturers putting out the hardware. In that sense Valve & Xbox have the upper hand. (Support for 3rd party hardware).…
— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) November 13, 2025
Discussion about whether Valve’s Steam Machine will change how people buy living room PCs is likely to continue. For now, Douse is betting that a lower price and broad hardware support will matter more than chasing high-end specs.
