Valve stepped forward and silently hid a link to his Steam Machines website from the Steam store, a move indicative of the nefarious project to drive a transition similar to a PC gaming console in the living room. The measure, noted by PC Gamer today, does not mean that Steam Machines can no longer be purchased. You can still find the link live here, and you can even buy the recommended Alienware Alpha Steam Machine from Dell if you wish, as well as the SteamOS controller designed by Valve at Amazon. But the "hardware" tab on Steam now only shows the Steam Controller, the HTC Vive headset and the Valve Steam Link game transmission service.
It is clear that Steam Machines is no longer a priority for Valve, which could not overcome the nebulous target consumer of the product category. Those interested in PC games were always more interested in a desktop configuration with mouse and keyboard, not in a hybrid similar to a console that was connected to a living room television. And those who were not eager to use a desktop computer were more likely to spend time playing in the living room using a PlayStation or Xbox console. That left Valve supplying a niche audience that never grew enough to justify devoting more time and resources to hardware and software design, despite some of the benefits provided by the Linux-based SteamOS.
As PC Gamer notes, the Steam Machine initiative also suffered delays, cancellations and high entry costs for consumers. In 2015, when the project was in full swing, it was difficult to recommend someone to actually buy the presumed vision. Eventually, Valve shifted his focus to broadcasting games with the release of Steam Link, and Steam Machines have withered due to lack of support across the board. It's a shame, since the idea of PC games in the living room is still attractive, but it's still out of reach.
