• Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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      6 days ago

      Only after they closed their system, which they did because they were losing money to every single enterprise in the world who wanted a cluster and PS3 were the cheapest option.

      • Steve Dice@sh.itjust.works
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        6 days ago

        The PS3 was using a rare CPU that you could only get from it or from some enterprise dealer at a much higher price. The Steam Machine is a standard x86 computer that can’t match the ubiquitous ThinkCentres in price/performance.

        • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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          6 days ago

          If it’s sold at a loss like a console it would beat the price/performance of any other x86 chip on the market, which is why they can’t sell it at a loss, ergo my point.

          • ObliviousEnlightenment@lemmy.world
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            4 days ago

            Thry could absolutely do that. Valve makes a cut off every Steam game sold. If anything, it’d be MORE viable for them than any other console maker given the wider library

            • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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              4 days ago

              You’re completely missing the point. People can buy steam machines and use them as a PC without ever opening steam, or worse, use them as servers or parts of a cluster. If Steam Machines were sold at a loss they would , by definition, be cheaper than equivalent hardware, so companies would buy 10k of them to put into a warehouse to run stuff because it would be cheaper than buying the same thing from other places. This is what happened to the PS3, non-blocked systems can’t be sold at a loss because you can’t guarantee that whoever is buying it will use them for your intended purpose.

                • Glog78@digitalcourage.social
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                  12 hours ago

                  @IzzyJ @Nibodhika

                  I personally think, that if your are gaming on linux you should value valve alot for how much money they have put into the linux ecosystem and it’s not bad to buy at their store. On the other hand there is alot of gaming happing outside of steam (including things which won’t make it to steam).

                  heretic showing epic store / gog and prime gaming showing itch io Showing lutris with humble / itch.io / ubisoft connect / amazon prime / battlenet and steam

                  • ObliviousEnlightenment@lemmy.world
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                    11 hours ago

                    I do absolutely celebrate the contributions they’ve made, Proton beats the shit out of every alternative and it’s not even close. Black hole vs mouse levels of curbstomp

                    I also think people with bad values should suffer for those values. I am an ideologue

            • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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              6 days ago

              If they’re sold at a loss, by definition they have to be cheaper than anything sold at a gain with the same performance.

                • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
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                  6 days ago

                  And then we could make money having people riding her. If you’re going to start a hypothetical scenario of Valve still being able to make money selling at a loss you can’t be angry that people are replying on the basis your premise is true.

                  • Steve Dice@sh.itjust.works
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                    6 days ago

                    You’re the one that brought up Valve selling at a loss because you think anything under $800 would be selling at a loss. I’m telling you it is not.