Recently, everyone has surely seen discussions about Steam Machine across various channelsdiscussion. This console, produced bySteambehindValvecompany's game console, was hailed with high hopes of "straightening out the industry" from the moment it was announced.However, when6month23day's official price announcement, external enthusiasm quickly cooled.
On one hand, it doesn't follow the console industry convention of399USD, not the media-predicted699USD, but the standard version1049USD, the Hong Kong version converts to approximately7610RMB sky-high price. Even more absurdly, it does not supportHDMI 2.1, and does not include a controller.
On the other hand, its specs aren't attractive enough.Core hardware includesZen 4architecture6core12threadsCPUandRDNA 3architectureGPU, tested by hardware bloggers to perform equivalently to an RTX 4060orRX 7600,Benchmark performance narrowly beats the launch price499USDSwitch 2, but falls short of the launch price399USDPlayStation 5.
Seeing this, PlayStation 5's official operations immediately stepped in, reintroducing the new modelPlayStation 5, leading with smiley faces, boasting about high performance, and including aDualSensewireless controller.
Nintendo fans were not to be outdone, interpretingSteamas a platform that hates the poor, while Nintendo became the people's Nintendo.
Even the long-silentXboxalso gained presence, with its new handheld's price and specs not losing toSteamconsole.
For a time, Steam Machine was mocked for having performance that narrowly beat Switch 2, portability narrowly beatPlayStation 5, exclusives narrowly beatXboxalternative"strongest console". Even the platformSteamand the bossGFat's reputation was also affected,Steamsuch as2hour refund policy and other friendly policies, which were revealed to have been changed only after losing lawsuits, whileGFat has been disparaged as a super-small vampire preying on players due to recent news about buying mansions and yachts, etc.G.
Why is Steam Machine so much more expensive than its competitors? I believe there are three reasons.
First, it'sAIindustry drove up chip prices.not justSteamnew consoles, traditional"Big Three"machines also saw widespread price increases due to rising production costs. This makes Steam Machine seem somewhat ill-timed.
Second, consoles typically sell hardware at a loss to seize market share, then rely on30%commission fees to achieve subsequent profitability,Steam Machinebut refused to subsidize hardware. This isn't to sayGFat is more unscrupulous than traditional console manufacturers, but rather he doesn't need to play this way,Steamdoesn't need to fight for market share, it inPCcan also take30%commission fees.
Hardware sold at a loss, this is clearly stated in the financial reports
Third, probably the most easily overlooked point. That is, landing hardware, a core capability is managing the upstream and downstream of the production supply chain. For example,20century80the 80s also experienced a chip bubble, NintendoPresident Hiroshi Yamauchibut strictly required the original Famicom's price to be15000yen or less, almost half the price of competing products on the market. As a result, management approached Ricoh, then the third-largest manufacturer by market share, leveraging their desire to increase market share to persuade them to adopt a low-margin, high-volume strategy, andcommitted to purchasing within two years3 millionmillion chips.In the end, Nintendo managed to sign the contract with some difficulty and kept costs well under control. But on closer inspection, it's not hard to see that this kind of contract is a bet-on agreement. If the then-nascent Nintendo couldn't sell enough Famicom consoles,3 millionten thousand, then this order would become a huge debt, likely leading directly to bankruptcy liquidation.
Conversely, locking in prices and signing long-term contracts in advance also means stable production costs for many years to come. This is why consoles from Sony and Microsoft can keep prices within an acceptable range even as semiconductor costs skyrocket. But obviously, ValveAs an internet platform company that started with light assets, it still cannot matchtraditionalcompete with hardware giants. Valve lacks the experience of Sony and Microsoft, and doesn't have the early Nintendo's gamble-it-all courage.
But regardless of the reasons, the Steam Machine ultimatelyThe price is daunting. It can't play "GTA 6, nor does it have exclusive AAA titles. Core gamers can build a better PC for the same price.PC, non-core gamers who buy it still have to struggle with setting up keyboards, mice, and controllers,1049dollars to make itThe product positioning is awkward, it's hard to say which group it serves.
There's a voice that takes for granted that Western players earn dollars and spend dollars,1049price is not a problem for them. Such views clearly severely underestimate the cost of living in the West. A slap-in-the-face example is that recently there's been a topic on the foreign internet—do poor people deserve to be game fans?
This topic occurred onSteambefore the console price was announced, butSteam Machineundoubtedly added fuel to the fire. The cause was a blogger calling out, claiming"Must play games to be a game fan" is a class narrative. In other words, he believes cloud gamers should also be allowed to participate in game discussions, while the core gamer community always has an arrogant "elitism".
Some people support him:"I'm glad people are finally realizing how much class hostility gamers have towards cloud gamers. Not everyone has the money to buy a computer or console, let alone the games themselves." Someone added: "People with conditions like photosensitive epilepsy or motion sickness find it hard to enjoy games, but they still participate in game discussions." This effectively turns cloud gamers into a disadvantaged group.
Of course, this approach of treating players as a whole and making broad generalizations easily causes controversy. Those who curse harshly,compare them to people who watch three-minute short video summaries,"senior film buffs", or "cyber cuckold slaves" who watch others play due to their own incompetence. But more people gave relatively friendly suggestions, such as recommending they borrow friends' consoles, buy cheap discounted older games—or even download from Russian websites"pirated versions", but game fans must play games.
Indeed, if all game fans were players who had played the games, the discussion environment would be much better than it is now,The point that "fans must play games" originally didn't need discussion. ButThe exorbitant price of the Steam Machine is right there, putting the increasingly high barrier to gaming squarely in front of everyone.
So, every player needs to answer a question: When the exclusive launch happens in the second half of the yearPlayStation 5of"Grand Theft AutoVI》release, do we need to spend a total of approximately4500yuan cost to buy the console and discs to qualify for participating in related topics? After all,It's a game that almost everyone is looking forward to.
But obviously, whether borrowing a friend's console,buying cheap discounted older games, or downloading from Russian websites"pirated versions", cannot effectively lower this4500yuan threshold.And new games, like new movies, generate buzz, will bring"social currency", leading to poorer players having less presence and wealthier players being more popular.
Therefore, I think "Can poor people be game fans?"this bold statement is worth discussing. More recently, many people have never spent money buying Games Workshopany pieces from the company, but throughUP-zhu's commentary on "Warhammer40K"worldview, story, characters by heart, is he a "Warhammer"fans? I think still yes. Looking further back, I saw a metaphor comparing ancient Europeans90%illiteracy rate, but through priests' sermons and explanations, religion spread in the West, so if believers never read the original text of the Bible, are they Christian fans? I think obviously yes.
Given that the barrier to entry can't be lowered overnight, I believe what game developers can do is offer more frequent online demos of partial game content or demo weekends. For developers, this helps good games find more potential customers; for fans, it helps more people who can't currently afford the cost of games to play them, understand what the game is about,ofabout, they can better participate in game discussions, effectively eliminating contradictions and分歧 between players and cloud gamers.
Some people get motion sickness3Dcan't play games, but want to participate in discussions
Now we know that Western players are also complaining about high game costs.
In this way, we can understand many things about the Western game industry.
For example, why did last year's "Light and Shadow:33Expedition》able to sweep awards, receiving consistent praise from Western media and players?A key factor is that itAAAquality appearance, yet overseas it's priced at half that of similar games, so media don't care if its team is truly33people, as long as they only spend33person's cost, using indie game pricing, even if it's an indie game.
Why are football and sports games cash cows? Why do fighting games, considered niche,,generally have high sales?Our article last year analyzed that because these local multiplayer competitive games can be played repeatedly after purchase, even with friends around, becoming a social hub among players. In other words, the average cost per play for these games is extremely low, so in European suburban immigrant communities and African American communities in North America,in internet cafes in Chile and Iran,are extremely popular. It means appealing to both rich and poor, so sales are not a problem.
Also, why do publishers increasingly love remaking old games? WhyAAAWhy do AAA game stories always focus on family drama?Because, according toEntertainment Software Association(ESA)in25-26years statistical report, the core paying demographic of console players is aged25to44years old, accounting fortwo-thirds, even50players over the age of18years old or younger. In other words, this is a group capable of bearing the high costs of gaming, so naturally manufacturers will use 'rehashed classics' to harvest middle-aged people's nostalgia, and are more willing to create emotional value for them by discussing family-related topics.
Originally, writing up to this point, I still wanted to argue the cost-effectiveness of games. Even for big-budget titles, compared to going to the movies, outdoor travel, or dating and socializing, it remains the cheapest civilian hobby per unit of time. However, "Grand Theft AutoVI" happened to announce its price, which immediately interrupted my'casting a spell,' its79.9dollars and the Deluxe Edition99.9dollars figure made my personal opinion completely unconvincing.
Because what's harder to accept than the price itself is the trend. In the past, towards the end of each console generation, consoles would always drop in price due to outdated specs. But now, new machines with the same specs are even more expensive than their launch prices, completely breakingThe rule of 'buy early to enjoy, buy late for discounts.'
And in this generation, we have experiencedAAAthe standard pricing for games went from60dollars to70dollar increase, and also experiencedPSNandXGPand other subscription service price hikes. A basic pattern can be observed: whenever one manufacturer takes the lead in raising prices, others immediately follow.hemanufacturers followed suit.
While collecting materials, I found a peer whose report was much more optimistic than mine:"Fortunately, the returns on realistic graphics are diminishing. In the near future, developers will soon realize that pursuing graphics is not worth it. Therefore,They will usecater to those using low-end graphics cards who cannot run games smoothlyplayers,to attract a wider audience...With this, bridge the wealth gap among players."
This passage was written ten years ago in2015years.But clearly, the weather is unpredictable.
