Valve Has its Own Operating System Now in SteamOS

"deus ex music"

It's 2047, the only two companies left on the surface of planet earth, Valve and Google are in vigorous battle for world domination. Using augmented agents, in proxy wars around the world the evil mega corporations fight for the domination of the ultimate resource, Humanity.

"bwaaaaam"

by directors M. Night. Shyamalan? and McG!

written by gary whitta

coming 2014

12% on Rotten Tomatoes

@exfate: Don't forget though that you'll need something to control these third party hardware platforms so I imagine one of the announcements to be some kind of steam/PC controller/game pad or whatever. Though I'm sure the details of how all of this will work would come with these announcements. Either way exciting times are ahead.

Half Life 3 confirmed for SteamOS timed exclusivity.

Really, really interesting if this OS will be able to play more than just the limited Linux supported Steam games. Fortunately since it will be able to stream games from "other computers" I don't think that matters too much.

Would be nice to have a cheap, fully usable living room computer (or a Steam Box) and my normal dedicated rig streaming whatever games I want to play to the former.

This has probably been mentioned but has anyone noticed "c17" in the blue planet image thingie majig?

Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stick to my desktop with Windows where I can still play my GOG games as well as my Steam and Origin stuff.

Oh. The way I worded it sounded better...

I find it funny that people think anyone outside of a niche audience is going to give a shit about this.

Whoa. I am very glad they're gunning for a custom OS over trying to sell hardware in the form of SteamBoxes. Cool if they try that eventually, but this is something that could grab marketshare. I think they'll pull off a good OS but the question is whether enough games will support it. Modern game creation suites that allow easier ports could help a lot in this regard. Nice logo, too!

@kablui: Google Wine.

I'm wondering if they'll allow users access to root.

I'm totally ready to ditch windows as much as possible, and a couch friendly OS is just what I might need to ditch next gen! I'm excited for the rest of the week!

Suppose this will work with vmware? I don't feel like dual booting and I don't need another computer laying around...

this has peaked my interest. Looking forward to the next 2 announcements this week.

Steam OS is what Valve was working on when they should have been making Half Life 3.

Glad I held off grabbing a Nvidia Shield, sounds like slapping this on some old laptop should do the trick for the home theatre quite nicely indeed. The current gaming laptop hooked up to it just boots into big picture/XBMC anyway, no need for a full windows install. The biggest thing I want going forward is to only have to bother keeping one machine up to date and powerful, it's a waste throwing money at multiple PC's and consoles.

I think it's going to be really interesting to see how quickly third party gaming software like mouse and keyboard manufacturer utilities come over. If they can nail the feel of a gaming rig day 1, we've got some interesting times ahead.

if that is the case, then ultimately won't be a game changer. One of the prime advantages of a console is the price. If Valve can come out with a Steam box at a sub-$500 price point (that makes the games looks comparable to next-gen consoles) then there will be a new contender in the market. If it's a $1000 box that hooks up to my TV and doesn't to the things I use a PC for, then no dice.

Maybe one of the other two announcements is Half Life 3. How crazy would that be?

My concern in all this is what happens when Gabe tries to force his OS onto users who don't want it by releasing Half Life 3 or something equally important as a Steam OS exclusive? Transitioning to Linux is not something I have any intention of doing and I don't want Valve punishing me for not going along with Gabe's hatred of Windows 8. Valve is typically a positive force in gaming but TF2 hats and Dota 2 keys have always seemed extremely exploitative to me and Valve could easily use their OS for something sinister.

@scarabus: Unless the already have a fully working emulator that does not eat resources for every OS...like DosBox...for their OS.

If it's an M. Night joint, there has to be a big reveal.

The big reveal turns out to be that Valve and Google are the same company, and the corporate "wars" they have been fighting have been an elaborately staged play calculated to make people side with one or the other, meaning that virtually 100% of the planet would be siding with Voogle, even if they didn't know it.

BWAAAAAAAAAAMMM

I keep reading the comments, and I still do not see a compelling reason why, unless it is to eliminate the HDMI cable, and location of the pc in the living room. A lot of cases do suck as home furnishings, that's why I use a cooler master full tower, I do not mind big. A few others also have a decent look and certainly function (Just to mention it, latter day Alienware looks bizarre).

As for an alternative approach, I'd use a wireless keyboard and mouse on the living-room table in conjunction with full PC plus TV, and a controller for steam games. For the moment I have a wired gaming keyboard and mouse, but a controller dedicated to steam might be feasible. then I would adopt my previous model.

ok give it to me tomorrow, ill just have last day party with windows.

While I love linux for everyday use and am excited to see where Valve is going to take this, I can't help but feel a Linux based gaming box (presumably what SteamOS is intended for) is not going to do very well in the mass market with how few games currently support linux.

I love indie games as much (probably a lot more) than the next guy, but let's be honest they aren't going to sell a $500 gaming box to the average joe. I think if this is going to succeed Valve needs to double down and get more AAA publishers to jump aboard the linux train. Once we start seeing Activision, SquareEnix, Ubisoft, and other big name publishers and developers, then I think SteamOS and a SteamBox running it will have a chance.

The way I see it now however is simply another cool idea from Valve, but not one that is likely to have the mass appeal they expect. Either way I'm very excited to see what the next two announcements are ^_^

@zzombie13 said:

I must be tired cause it took a couple of minutes for this joke to soak in.

My only problem with a Steam Box/OS is the same as its ever been, how do they deal with the ever evolving system specs of PC gaming?

You compare this to PS4 & Xbox One? Both consoles are guaranteed to get a massive library through their lifespan, developers/publishers are working to create games specific for that platform, on the other hand we have just another distribution of Ubuntu called Steam OS and you expect developers to jump on it, just because it's Valve? If developers wanted to create games for Linux they already would have done that without waiting for Valve, even if Linux gains 10% of games because of this, and I guess a lot of indies will bite the bait, it's still nothing compared to Windows.

But that OS wont ever be on my PCs, simply because I don't just use them to play games and so do other people.

Besides looking at the track record of Valve fixing issues I don't really trust them that this thing will work without problems, especially cause it's Linux and we know how things work on that OS, seldom and one day yes one day not. Steam isn't able to properly fullscreen on a portrait oriented monitor since it exists, the bug is mentioned on Steam forums almost daily and they keep ignoring it or are unable to fix it, well, an approach like that wont fly with an OS, on another note I have a 21:9 TV among other will the OS scale with that screen, I know it does with Windows but I seriously doubt Steam OS will.

What the heck is going on?

Right now I'd be very happy to buy a SteamBox. I just moved country and only have crappy laptop to play video games on. I have hundreds of Steam games, and more I'd like to buy and play. Yet I can't justify building (another) gaming PC in case I move again in a year or two.

A SteamBox would solve these issues. Its a dedicated, cheap (theoretically) machine which will allow me to play all my Steam games, with no fuss involved. If I move again I can just take it with me.

Because taking a PC with you is a no-go when you move :D, make sure to not buy a car while you are at it, cause you will need to leave it at your old address. I got my car shipped from Slovenia to Sweden when I was studying there btw on a container ship and it was cheap, cheaper as if I had to buy a new car there, and my PC went with me on a plane.

Who portrait orients their TV to play games on it?

I doubt the graphics drivers are going to be a problem, from looking at their package repo, they'll be maintaining their own set of nvidia drivers apart from ubuntu's, probably harnessing all that work with hardware manufacturers that they've been touting since this push started. I haven't had problems with the ubuntu repo's nvidia drivers anyways. http://repo.steampowered.com/hometest/pool/steam/n/

SteamDB folks found Spotify and local/network share/itunes playlist playback support in Steam so we know that will be one of the media services http://steamdb.info/blog/25/

But this doesn't seem to be the case - the Steam Box would only play the Steam games that are running on Linux. Unless they have some kind of Gaikai trick up their sleeve, you'll need a Windows PC running on your home network that can run all your Windows games.

I am still not seeing the advantage vs a traditional console unless you are really, really intent on playing your Windows PC games in the living room without moving your desktop PC in there.

I'm a noob. If let's say I put this OS on my PC, would it use my video card and processor better than windows does? Would it play games better? Thanks.

@inspectorfowler: the funny part that most is that you now will have to play fps on a controler

so ........

also rts and mmo.........

@penguindust: @penguindust: @inspectorfowler: the funny part that most is that you now will have to play fps on a controler

so ........

also rts and mmo.........

@penguindust: this could be a problem but it is coming in 2014 so they some time to get big AAA on their platform

I don't care about the control scheme as much as I do about the common sense of this. It seems like they're making this box for an insanely small percentage of current PC gamers and virtually zero console gamers.

I know we should wait for the next couple announcements, and I also know this plays into their plan - get everybody talking. But unless they are like, "Okay, guys, it's a $500 device equivalent to a $1000 PC and it will play every Steam game you own!!!!!" I am really not sure who the OS and any resultant device are for. Linux lovers? Nope, they already run it on their own PC. People who wanna play PC games in the living room? Well, they are probably already doing that, and without any network complications coming from streaming the video through a router. Console gamers? Sorry, they are looking at relatively affordable boxes in a couple months with a decent launch lineup and guaranteed followups, as opposed to a total unknown future.

I feel like Gabe is so upset about Windows 8 that he is somehow convinced the rest of us are too. I'm not - I'm going to skip it, just like a lot of us did with Vista.

Oh well. It's not like this is going to bankrupt Valve, they could probably wipe with gold toilet paper at this stage.

I don't care about the control scheme as much as I do about the common sense of this. It seems like they're making this box for an insanely small percentage of current PC gamers and virtually zero console gamers.

I know we should wait for the next couple announcements, and I also know this plays into their plan - get everybody talking. But unless they are like, "Okay, guys, it's a $500 device equivalent to a $1000 PC and it will play every Steam game you own!!!!!" I am really not sure who the OS and any resultant device are for. Linux lovers? Nope, they already run it on their own PC. People who wanna play PC games in the living room? Well, they are probably already doing that, and without any network complications coming from streaming the video through a router. Console gamers? Sorry, they are looking at relatively affordable boxes in a couple months with a decent launch lineup and guaranteed followups, as opposed to a total unknown future.

I feel like Gabe is so upset about Windows 8 that he is somehow convinced the rest of us are too. I'm not - I'm going to skip it, just like a lot of us did with Vista.

Oh well. It's not like this is going to bankrupt Valve, they could probably wipe with gold toilet paper at this stage.

I don't care about the control scheme as much as I do about the common sense of this. It seems like they're making this box for an insanely small percentage of current PC gamers and virtually zero console gamers.

I know we should wait for the next couple announcements, and I also know this plays into their plan - get everybody talking. But unless they are like, "Okay, guys, it's a $500 device equivalent to a $1000 PC and it will play every Steam game you own!!!!!" I am really not sure who the OS and any resultant device are for. Linux lovers? Nope, they already run it on their own PC. People who wanna play PC games in the living room? Well, they are probably already doing that, and without any network complications coming from streaming the video through a router. Console gamers? Sorry, they are looking at relatively affordable boxes in a couple months with a decent launch lineup and guaranteed followups, as opposed to a total unknown future.

I feel like Gabe is so upset about Windows 8 that he is somehow convinced the rest of us are too. I'm not - I'm going to skip it, just like a lot of us did with Vista.

Oh well. It's not like this is going to bankrupt Valve, they could probably wipe with gold toilet paper at this stage.

I don't care about the control scheme as much as I do about the common sense of this. It seems like they're making this box for an insanely small percentage of current PC gamers and virtually zero console gamers.

I know we should wait for the next couple announcements, and I also know this plays into their plan - get everybody talking. But unless they are like, "Okay, guys, it's a $500 device equivalent to a $1000 PC and it will play every Steam game you own!!!!!" I am really not sure who the OS and any resultant device are for. Linux lovers? Nope, they already run it on their own PC. People who wanna play PC games in the living room? Well, they are probably already doing that, and without any network complications coming from streaming the video through a router. Console gamers? Sorry, they are looking at relatively affordable boxes in a couple months with a decent launch lineup and guaranteed followups, as opposed to a total unknown future.

I feel like Gabe is so upset about Windows 8 that he is somehow convinced the rest of us are too. I'm not - I'm going to skip it, just like a lot of us did with Vista.

Oh well. It's not like this is going to bankrupt Valve, they could probably wipe with gold toilet paper at this stage.

I don't care about the control scheme as much as I do about the common sense of this. It seems like they're making this box for an insanely small percentage of current PC gamers and virtually zero console gamers.

I know we should wait for the next couple announcements, and I also know this plays into their plan - get everybody talking. But unless they are like, "Okay, guys, it's a $500 device equivalent to a $1000 PC and it will play every Steam game you own!!!!!" I am really not sure who the OS and any resultant device are for. Linux lovers? Nope, they already run it on their own PC. People who wanna play PC games in the living room? Well, they are probably already doing that, and without any network complications coming from streaming the video through a router. Console gamers? Sorry, they are looking at relatively affordable boxes in a couple months with a decent launch lineup and guaranteed followups, as opposed to a total unknown future.

I feel like Gabe is so upset about Windows 8 that he is somehow convinced the rest of us are too. I'm not - I'm going to skip it, just like a lot of us did with Vista.

Oh well. It's not like this is going to bankrupt Valve, they could probably wipe with gold toilet paper at this stage.

You know why this is interesting? You know why everyone on this site should be at least paying attention? Because I think it's the first potential Operating System to be built with the purpose of playing video games at it's core... Windows runs games great and I adore it because it's the easiest place right now to play all of the video games ever pretty much... but Windows is legacy, it's old as fuck and the fact that it runs games is almost a happenstance, barring any surprise interest shown from Microsoft once the Xbox One era for them gets going I highly doubt they will be pushing gaming on Windows any harder than they have already, there's been almost zero effort publicly put forth from them for gaming on computers and even the way the 360 controller has found new life on the PC has way more to do with Valve and Steam pushing it's integration in an official way than anything else, it's lucky and it's sad for Microsoft.

So why should you care about an operating system purportedly built for games? How could you NOT care... your on giantbomb dot com I assume you like video games, maybe even love them, so start showing your love for games and the possibilities for even better games under a possible new platform that could help make them better for you! :)

The thing I like about consoles is that you make your investment for the generations and you know you're never going to be left behind. PC can discriminate in terms of specs and if they solve that prob. more people would be interested I reckon.

I agree about this. Still, it's Linux at its core, and there's a reason why Linux has never caught on with the mainstream (hint: even the "easy to use" Linux versions are not easy to use for the avarage Joe, and Windows works okay enough for people not wanting to add another OS to their machine). I agree that this is very interesting for gamers, but I still feel that this is only gonna appeal to just a tiny fraction of hardcore gamers.

We'll see, I guess. It's clear that the business side of Valve is one of, if not the, best in the industry, so they probably know something we don't. I'll never bet against Valve, but right now I can't really see the market for something like this and (if it's announced) a "steam box".

Some stuffz:

The announcement of SteamOS is not the announcement of a Steam box. SteamOS is just a linux based Steam optimized OS, free and open source. What this means in practice is that Samsung can build a TV With Steam built in, Philips can make a dvr device with Steam built in, HP can built a nas with SteamOS, heck you can even install it on your Roomba if that's what you want. So instead of the OS owner dictating which companies are allowed to use their OS, everybody is free to take it. This is huge.

There will be 3 types of boxes - good, better, best. The simplest box will be a box with the stream capabilities revealed today. A 99 dollar apple tv like open source system on which you can play your pc games through streaming, but also works as an htpc. You can install xbmc netflix etc. On it, plus all the other stuff people will develop for it since its all open source. Primary target for the streambox will be current pc gamers who get an awesome roku/atv like open source box which can stream their complete Steam library.

The second box will be around 300 bucks and will be more console like in the sense that it has enough compute power to run games, has a good gfx card etc. This will be the competition for the xb1 ps4 market, and this is probably the main target for Valve since they want to expand their market. If this succeeds it will be HUGE. A no hassle console with Steam prices and sales, free and open to any developer, no subscription needed for multiplayer gaming, modding through workshop etc., you know, all the good stuff pcgaming has over consoles. I bet the timing of these announcements, shortly before the release of the new gen consoles, has something to do with this as well.

The third option will be some kind of super console, up to date with the latest hardware. Remeber this being open source any company can make their own systems and drop SteamOS on it, it doesn't have to be Steam fabricated. This means that instead of going through a 7 year cycle you can upgrade your console at any given time, drop SteamOS on it and you have your up to date console experience. A company like Nvidia could built their own box with a cartridge like gfx card which even your grandma could switch out if needed. Endless possibilities.

I also am confused at the short sightedness of some people saying the linux library is currently so small. Yes it is, but it is way bigger than any of the other future systems library atm, I can not buy a single xb1 or ps4 game at this point in time. I'm sure Valve has done their homework and knows developers are willing to work with linux, and Valve certainly has the knowledge and means to make this a succes and to incentivise developers into linux development. Cutting DirectX out of the game industry in favor of OpenGL is basically all that has to be done to cut Microsoft out of their hold on pcgaming. A boost by a company like Valve can make this happen.

I am excite! Hope you are a bit more excite now too.

Unfortunately we are already seeing the rise of several new clients such as ARC, Origin and Uplay, had Valve gone to market even an year earlier instead of pussyfooting around id have been all over this. Now the whole market is just way too splintered for this to make sense to anyone that has games installed outside of Steam. Im so ready to ditch windows but not for linux, at least not in its current state.

F U Valve! Don't make me back into PC gaming...