I’ve been using Steam for many years now.—both as a player and as an indie developer. I’ve always highlighted what I like, but I’ve also been critical of what should be improved (such as some of its policies or the awful “Steam Market Community,” which I would personally remove). But when Valve does things right, it deserves recognition.

I already said this about the Steam Deck, which I bought, and even before its launch I thought it was a great idea. Today I want to share the same opinion about the Steam Machine, in particular. It’s not a new idea, but this time, with a single official hardware model, I think it’s a solid path toward market understanding and success. Without a doubt, they’ve sparked my interest in the device (we’ll see what Xbox does too) with this new console-PC for several reasons:

First, Valve has already announced that games will include compatibility and quality indicators (just like with the Steam Deck), and I really like this. I like it because it sets a “standard,” a reference point for developers, and gives players confidence. That’s always been the problem with PC gaming: no matter if you had a beast of a machine fresh out of the box, when you installed a game you never knew if it would run properly or how it would behave, due to countless compatibility issues (not just graphics).

On top of that, it’s going to be six times more powerful than the Steam Deck and focused on desktop use—specifically, on 4K TVs. This is important to me, since one thing I missed with the Steam Deck (given my age and schedule, I don’t play much outside) was that its mobility focus didn’t make it ideal for playing at higher resolutions than its native 720p, let alone in 4K. I had the Dock and the upscaling wasn’t bad, but obviously it wasn’t the best way to play on a 4K TV.

It’s not that its power will be especially spectacular in terms of performance and graphics—it’s somewhere between the Xbox Series S and X, roughly—but it’s possible that, as with the Steam Deck, by setting that standard developers will take it into account when optimizing their games. I’ve already come across several titles with a “Steam Deck mode” to make the most of Valve’s handheld, and surely, if the Steam Machine succeeds this time, the same will happen.

On the other hand, Xbox is considering something similar: a console-PC where, in addition to the entire Xbox catalog, you’ll be able to install all the stores—including Steam and Epic—and play your PC games. This new Xbox really will be a beast in terms of power, and it also comes with Windows, which I personally prefer for compatibility and work reasons, since I’d use it as a regular PC. Its drawback, compared to Valve’s console, will probably be the price.

Regarding the other devices, VR is incredible, but I imagine they still haven’t managed to solve the issue of motion sickness that affects so many users. And as for the Steam Pad, it’s a great controller, just like the Xbox one.