Invading the retail space
It seems like we've talking about Steam Machines for 100 years or so (it's actually been closer to 2 years, which in all fairness is roughly the equivalent of 100 in technology years), and come next month, official Steam hardware devices will finally launch. This is really happening, and it won't be exclusive to online sales.
GameStop locations in the U.S. along with GAME UK and EB Games in Canada will all have dedicated sections in their brick-and-mortar stores, Valve announced today. These section will feature official Steam Machines, Steam Controllers, Steam Link devices, and a variety of prepaid Steam cards.
"GameStop, GAME UK, and EB Games are leading retail destinations for core gamers and early adopters," said Gabe Newell of Valve. "Creating a 'store within a store' across North America and the UK is a significant win for getting the first generation of Steam Hardware products into gamers' hands."
The aforementioned stores will serve as the exclusive non-digital retailers of Steam hardware through the holiday season. It's not clear if Valve will allow other retailers like Best Buy and Walmart to carry Steam hardware once the holiday season is in the rear view mirror.
There's been a lot of demand for official Steam Machines and other console-like PCs. First announced in 2013, Valve ended up delaying the launch of official Steam Machines so that it could tweak the controller and fine tune its Linux-based Steam OS. That decision caused OEMs to release console-sized PCs running Windows, some of which have proved popular.
More recently, Valve and its hardware partners began taking pre-orders for select Steam Machines starting at $449, along with related hardware. Valve's $100 Steam Link accessory is particularly intriguing because it allows gamers to stream their libraries of Steam games from their PC to their TV.
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From maximumpc
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