Valve Does Not Want to Repeat Sony and Microsoft's Console Strategy

Valve confirmed that it will not sell Steam Machines at a loss, despite the company's dominant position in the PC gaming market. The device will be sold without company subsidies.

In a conversation with The Verge, a Valve representative explained the company's position and directly rejected the idea of selling at a loss.

While that might seem like an easy solution, it doesn’t align with our beliefs about how healthy ecosystems are built. When companies sell hardware below cost for competitive advantage or buy exclusive content for it, they create a more closed system where you can’t choose what software to run.

We don’t want that for PC hardware, and we don’t think you should either. You shouldn’t feel obligated to buy Valve hardware; it’s just one option among many devices for gaming.

Valve emphasizes that subsidizing hardware contradicts the idea of an open PC platform. The company believes that the Xbox and PlayStation model leads to competition through exclusives and content restrictions.

Steam Machine is positioned as an alternative in the PC ecosystem, not a competitor to consoles.