Value Confirms Its Will Release its Own Steam Box

Valve co-founder Gabe Newell has revealed  new details about the Steam-based gaming device commonly referred to as the  ‘Steam Box’.

One prototype for the Steam Box, codenamed  ‘Piston’, was revealed at this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas  from PC manufacturer Xi3. However, in an interview with The Verge, Newell has since clarified  that Valve will ultimately create its own gaming hardware.

“We’ll come out with our own and we’ll sell it to consumers by ourselves,”  Newell said. “That’ll be a Linux box, [and] if you want to install Windows you  can. We’re not going to make it hard. This is not some locked box by any stretch  of the imagination.”

While Valve will release its own system, it is also  interested in having multiple Steam Boxes on the market. The company has been in  talks with multiple PC manufacturers, including Xi3, to help them design their  own Steam-optimized hardware.

“It’s much more like herding cats, so we  try to take the pieces where we’re going to add the best value and then  encourage other people to do it. So it tends to mean that a lot of people get  involved. We’re not imposing a lot of restrictions on people on how they’re  getting involved,” he said.

“It’s been surprisingly difficult when we say  to people, ‘Don’t put an optical media drive in there’, and they put an optical  media drive in there and you’re like, ‘That makes it hotter, that makes it more  expensive, and it makes the box bigger. Go ahead’.”