Valve Confirms It's Making a Home Console - News

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Valve's Gabe Newell has confirmed that the company is entering the hardware market, spilling the news to Kotaku after this year's VGA Awards. After the success of Valve's "Big Picture" feature for their digital distribution service Steam, Newell stated that their next step was to sell consumer-friendly PCs that could be set up in the living room. 

"I think in general that most customers and most developers are gonna find that [the PC is] a better environment for them," said Newell. "Because they won't have to split the world into thinking about 'why are my friends in the living room, why are my video sources in the living room different from everyone else?' So in a sense we hopefully are gonna unify those environments."

However, Newell stated that their PCs won't be as open as other home computer platforms. 

"Well certainly our hardware will be a very controlled environment. If you want more flexibility, you can always buy a more general purpose PC. . . the nice thing about a PC is a lot of different people can try out different solutions, and customers can find the ones that work best for them."

Newell also confirmed that Valve was working on their next generation of game engines, which will not only run on their "Steam Box" (my words, not Newell's) but on next-generation consoles as well. 

No specifics on when Valve's home hardware will release, but with Sony's and Microsoft's next consoles rumored for next year, the recent release of the Wii U, and the Ouya just on the horizon, the next generation of gaming is looking to hold a lot of options for home console players. 

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