Wargame: Airland Battle trailer details dynamic campaign
Halo 'Bootcamp' confirmed by Microsoft
Weekend PC download deals: Tomb Raider for $14
Game Dev Tycoon studio outlines future plans
Baldur's Gate 2 Enhanced already has 350,000 words of new content
Valve boss says Apple is biggest threat to Steam Box
by Steve Watts, Jan 31, 2013 7:55am PSTAs Microsoft and Sony prepare new consoles and Valve plans its Steam Box (or boxes), it seems everyone is preparing for the three to go head-to-head. Everyone except Valve boss Gabe Newell, at least, who seems unperturbed by either console and more concerned with Apple's movements in the market.
"The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform," Newell told students of the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, reported by Polygon. "I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging - I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"
He notes that buying consoles comes with its own set of weaknesses, like requiring you to re-buy content and have a separate friends list for each one, which makes a TV-connected PC more attractive. "I can just extend everything I love about the PC and the internet into the living room," he said. "I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together."
Comments
Valve founder Gabe Newell believes that the biggest threat facing Steam Box is Apple. He says the question is if the PC industry can get a foothold before Apple "takes over the living room."
Valve founder Gabe Newell believes that the biggest threat facing Steam Box is Apple. He says the question is if the PC industry can get a foothold before Apple "takes over the living room." : Shacknews
Thread Truncated. Click to see all 39 replies.
BUT, I'm most curious how Gabe plans on sharing the Steam games across multiple terminals. It's already a fight in my house when the kids want to play Plants and Zombies upstairs and I want to play FarCry3 downstairs, and they were both bought with the same steam account. Valve will have to enable some sort of account/library sharing if they want this steam box to work (unless each terminal would need it's own account and game library) and not be killed by it's own DRM. I've had real problems in the past dealing with Steam (don't get me wrong - I love their sales) trying to get in touch with a real person, and attempting to switch games between different accounts. What's to stop the streaming of a game to a larger network beyond the 'family' environment? How could they possibly tell the difference?
I don't think it will ever happen as he is suggesting it might.
You must be logged in to post.