Steam Machine presence planned for GDC, controller may feature too

Last time we saw anything of the Steam controller, it looked like this.

If you’ve read Paul’s round-up of PC boxes from CES 2015, you’ll know some companies have chosen not to wait for SteamOS to be finished before launching their devices.

Origin (not EA’s download service) was one of the companies presenting at CES 2015, and, in a recent chat with GameSpot, CEO Kevin Wasielewski suggested that the ‘Steam Machine’ terminology has slowly been morphing into ‘living room PC.’ Wasielewski states that Valve plans to reveal more Steam OS-compatible devices at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in March, and that a finalised version of the Steam controller will also be on show.

In a new statement to Game Informer, Valve pretty much confirms that GDC will be the place to see more Steam Machines and/or Living Room PCs. An unnamed ‘Valve representative’ is quoted as saying “We’re planning a very large presence at GDC with Steam Machines being front and center.”

Valve obviously has an interest in maintaining a brand association with these devices through the ‘Steam Machine’ name, though that term may ultimately end up being reserved for for boxes which come with SteamOS installed and the controller. Other third-party PC boxes intended for living room use could wind up with another name; or we may end up with a Vacuum Cleaner/Hoover type situation where one brand name comes to dominate a device with a particular function.

That’ll probably end up as a matter of debate for semantic scholars, but the meat of this new information would appear to be that Valve will be co-presenting more ‘Steam Machines’ from various manufacturers at GDC 2015 in early March. The Steam controller may well make an appearance, and this may also mark the point when the SteamOS comes out of beta.