Overview of Valve's SteamMachines specs

Remember that they probably have a number of audiences they are considering targeting. Off the top of my head, there is at least three core groups. The high media consumption family who all game and often game together is currently in vogue for console marketing. The 'hardcore' gamer crowd who play high demand FPSes and MMOs, who used to be the traditional market segment for Steam. Then there's the casual gamer who plays lighter games, but may well play a lot more games than the 'hardcore' gamers. The last one I can think of would be the family which buys consoles for the kids, and the parents have yet to be converted and still need to be properly sold on all the interactive TV features. I doubt that only 8 samples at a given level would give any meaningful data once statistical variation was factored in.

The only conclusion from that which makes any sense is that Valve are going after a single demographic at the start, most likely heavy gamers. But I am concerned that this will both cause key issues to be overlooked, and that this will make expanding outwards into other segments very hard. Although they will have some big name assistance with getting into a wider market, just look at Apple versus Android. Despite the leaps and bounds android has come on, iPhones and iPads are still viewed as less geeky and easier to use.

On the other hand, however, perhaps Valve are intending just that result. After all, the controller will often need custom mappings to be selected, so perhaps that is a good market for them. If I were a living room electronics manufacturer, however, I'd really want ease of use to be at the core of my products. I wouldn't want to integrate with my premium TVs something that could be called "geeky".