SteamOS is a walled garden, hell Android kinda is one too... they are just less restrictive as the competition.

And it's specially a walled garden if your aim is people that aren't techy enough to install other linux distros or that won't use the Desktop mode to install stuff like the gog launcher.

Bazzite now exist, valve doesn't have the same advantages as they did at the start of the Steam Deck, they have far better compeition (As in actual competition) and trying to enter that market without actually taking that into consideration will just be like pissing in the ocean expecting it to rise

And you do not make a viable market from the most hardcore of the hardcore, specially in a market that is already so niche as VR unless you sell at actually outrageous prices like the attempts by Apple to with their Vision Pro and their stupid prices and even they fucked that up.

Yeah... it's lost because Meta Killed it by making affordable usable untheatered VR headsets.

The quest 3S is 300 bucks, no one but the most hardcore of hardcore users are gonna be so desperate to leave the Meta ecosystem for double the price for the same specs.

Add economy of scale and it's a bit lower than that, but then factor the need to sell for a profit since it's not subsidized and manufacturing the console... I really fucking doubt that put it at a 800 USD MSRP.

It's why even with the fact that it isn't subsidized I really don't believe the whole thing people are saying that it's gonna be 800 or even 1000 bucks... for one the calculations people have done for the parts go for around 450 USD give or take.

Which... I mean I'm realistic we live in a world were companies wanna earn bigger and bigger profits. A single profit from hardware sales really isn't that, converting a portion of the console market into their ecosystem where they buy Steam games is that.

I doubt the Steam Machine is for non gamers, and while it might not be subsidized like consoles the idea that it would cost 800 bucks would be repellent for any console gamer so valve basically only gets the one time profits for a couple of SM sells and that's it.

And economic wise.... Valve isn't really gaining any long term profit for converting PC gamers to the SM because PC gamers are already buying games on Steam.

So the only people that valve gains a long term profit from are either, non gamers or console players.

And it's not like with the deck when they had the advantage of creating proton and using the Deck as a platform to show that while making people that wanted out of the Microsoft ecosystem.

Now you get proton with any Linux Distro.

You basically get neither of the benefits of PC nor console, you can't upgrade for cheaper and you can't jump to play online with your friend a good chunk of the games most people play online.

Soooooo.... again not really a good strategy in my eyes.

So why buy "Pre build" analogue you can't upgrade as you learn more about PCs but also can't play a lot of the most popular games in the market?