Steam

Breaking the console market seemed impossible. The Steam Machine has the potential to do it: Crossover 1×31

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The arrival of the Steam Machine It took us all by surprise a few days ago. The console and PC hybrid developed by Valve may become a real meteorite for traditional consolesbut be careful because not everything has been said. Valve, which became famous after the development of the mythical ‘Half-Life’ended up becoming the great PC video game distributor of our time thanks to Steam. Although they already tried to attack the gaming PC market with their Steam Machines a decade ago, now the approach is very different. That first attempt came too soon, but things have changed a lot since then. Valve has made its Steam OS operating system (based on Linux) an excellent alternative to the one offered by Windows on PCs. Above all thanks to Proton, the layer that allows you to play Windows games on Steam OS as well as on Windows… or even better. We have seen the first clear example of the experience that Valve could offer in this sense in the Steam Deckwhich have been a modest success (about 6 million consoles sold), but which have sparked interest in portable consoles that even Microsoft has decided to manufacture with partners like ASUS. Now the Steam Machine proposes to be a promising alternative to the Xbox Series S/X and the PlayStation 5 and combine the best of both worlds: a console-type experience and almost the entire catalog of video games available in the world of Windows PCs. The only question is whether he will make it, and that’s where enters the price factor. It is a fact that we will know at the beginning of 2026, and it will be from then on that we will know if this machine works or not. We are talking about all of this precisely in this Crossover 1×31we hope you enjoy it! On YouTube | Crossover In Xataka | The question is not whether Tim Cook will soon stop being CEO of Apple, but who will succeed him: Crossover 1×30

There are people making all kinds of theories to know the price of the Steam Machine. And no one is very optimistic

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The Valve’s Steam Machine has been received as a manna for the somewhat disastrous hardware landscape of the industry, with Switch 2 turned into a completely isolated system and aimed at its circle of consumers and Sony and Microsoft giving the impression of being somewhat lost in a scenario that is little or nothing exciting. In these comes Valve, which has already turned the concept of the portable PC upside down with its Steam Deckand now proposes a consolidated PC, completely oriented to work with Steam and ready to steal space from traditional consoles. Of course, there is a question that no one dares to answer completely: and the price? There are more and more theories. Not at losses. Valve has discarded compete in price with traditional consoles. The company confirmed that its new Steam Machine, scheduled for early 2026, will not follow the subsidized pricing model that characterizes PlayStation and Xbox. This means, as explained by one of the engineers responsible for the design of the machine, Pierre-Loup Griffais, that the device will align with “what would be expected from the current PC market”, explicitly rejecting the idea of ​​selling at a loss to expand market share and be more attractive to the general public. Frustrated expectations. The gaming community did its calculations: one of the most widespread bets said that Valve would take advantage of its 30% commission for each game sold on Steam to offer affordable hardware. These illusions have had to be qualified: youtuber Linus Sebastian revealed on his WAN Show that when he was in a meeting with Valve itself and suggested a price of $500, “no one confirmed anything, but the energy in the room completely changed.” That is, the youtuber thinks that Valve’s intentions point to a higher price. The current projections They place the Steam Machine between $750 and $900, very far from the $549 for the standard PlayStation 5 or the $599 for the Xbox Series X. Even the base model, cheaper and with 512GB, could exceed $600. Disappointing precedents. The original Steam Machines, launched in November 2015 after two years of delay, They barely reached 400,000 units sold throughout its commercial existence. The concept shipwrecked for multiple reasons: SteamOS ran on Linux, drastically limiting the catalog of compatible games; the product lacked a defined identity (it was, at the same time, too rigid for PC users and excessively complex for console consumers); and the proliferation of manufacturers led to a chaotic range of prices, from $499 to $1,500. In 2018, Valve quietly deleted any mention of the product from its store. How the subsidized price works… Yes, Valve has already said that it will not apply. But an approach is useful to understand what options Valve has on the table. The console industry traditionally operates through a model of hardware sold at a loss, which is recovered through the console business ecosystem. For exampleMicrosoft sold the Xbox 360 with a deficit of $125 per unit, while Sony absorbed losses of $240 to $300 with each PlayStation 3. The economic recovery It is obtained later, from commissions usually of 30% on each game sold, from subscription services and from official accessories. Microsoft publicly acknowledged in 2021 that each Xbox was still trading at a loss. The component crisis. But there is another reason to expect a high price for the Steam Machine, and that is that the rise of artificial intelligence has unleashed an unprecedented crisis in the memory market. There is data which speak of year-on-year increases of 171.8% in DRAM prices. Samsung and SK Hynix satisfy only 70% of orders, prioritizing HBM memories for AI data centers. AND are predicted serious shortfalls in DRAM, NAND Flash and hard drives during 2026, in a crisis which can last until 2029. The conspiracy of prices. The combination of unsubsidized hardware and expensive components puts the Steam Machine in an ambiguous position. Valve now has unthinkable advantages in 2015yes: in-house manufacturing, SteamOS refined thanks to the commercial success of Steam Deck, and a much broader compatible library. However, some analysts They warn that success will depend largely on the final price. Without the possibility of competing economically with traditional consoles, the device could remain half-hearted in commercial terms.

The Steam Machine’s key to eating the market will be the price. And there Valve has an ace up its sleeve

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The video game world is revolutionized. It’s not every day that a new “PC-console” is announced, but even rarer is that the device comes from Valve. They have just presented the Steam Machinea console-shaped PC that has been posed as a direct threat to Xbox and PS5but also for the Windows PC itself. Much has changed since Steam Machines from a decade ago and, with the new model, Valve will not take timid steps. Steam Deck has shown them that they have a lot to say in the field of hardware, but as always, success will depend on the price of the Steam Machine. It has to be attractive to gain a foothold. And Valve has a wild card called 30%. The price of the Steam Machine and the 30% wildcard A decade ago, Valve already took a hit with the first Steam Machines. He said that they were a timid bet because Valve developed the system, but between the fact that there were not so many games available for it (based on Linux) and that the machines were not designed by Valve, but rather delegated to companies like Asus and AlienWare (which set prices that were not competitive), well the thing ended… badly. The situation has changed a lot by three factors: In the shadows they continued to develop the Steam OS systemmaking it compatible with both Linux and Windows games. They launched a Steam Deck with which they have shown that they know how to make competitive hardware. Although threats such as Amazon and Epic Games have appeared, their platform remains the undisputed queen when we talk about PC gaming. The Steam Machine will arrive (accompanied by a new controller and a virtual reality viewer named Steam Frame) at the beginning of 2026. We do not know the specific date, nor the price. And, of course, once the initial excitement of the announcement had passed, the conversation turned to theorizing about the price of the Steam Machine. Here I want to be cautious because whenever hypotheses are launched about the price of hardware there are a lot of factors that come into play. We can take the components as a reference and say “To build a PC like this is about 700 euros”but then there are the design costs (it is very small and that increases the price), development, logistics… The last time the price of a console was theorized was with nintendo switch 2and their 470 euros They ended up surprising (although the 90 of some of their games were more surprising). Therefore, I don’t want to venture to say whether the Steam Machine will cost more or less. There are some clues. The Verge is one of the media outlets that has had the machine nearby and claims that Valve plans a price “similar to a PC with similar features.” From the middle they point about $800, but that’s only in components (without the system and other costs, for example), but the components are customized and look like versions of laptop CPUs and GPUs, not the ones we can buy for a desktop. From the technical media Digital Foundry take for granted that the range will be between 500 and 600 euros, but again: it is difficult to estimate because there is not much to scratch. Now, my reflection is that, if the objective of Steam is to punch the table and wants to take part of the pie from both the consoles Like the PC itself, the Steam Machine will be sold at a loss. Because? Because if there is a company that can afford it, it is Valve. For starters, it’s a private company. Gabe Newel, Valve’s boss, owns 51% of the shares. This implies that they do not have to give explanations to shareholders. This is why we do not have public figures for Steam profits or Steam Deck sales (although it is esteem which dominates the -small- consolidated PC market). But the reason why Valve can sell a console at a loss, or not care so much about not making money per machine sold, is because all the ones they sell have Steam as launcher and store, and the company keeps a significant percentage per game sold on the platform. That percentage is around 30%which implies that if a million copies of a game are sold, Valve’s share of the pie is considerable. And, although not all games sell millions, thousands of video games are released every month. that “solely” for setting up the servers and hosting the games developed by other companies. Besides, there is the matter of the stickersa market in which Steam also keeps a good percentage of each transaction. AND It is something that moves dizzying figures. On the Steam Machine, as on the Steam Deck, you can run games from platforms such as GOG, Epic or Rockstar, but in the end The PC marketplace par excellence is Steam. It is the mainstream platform and each of those Steam Machines will be a window to a store that has offers every now and then and that is very well positioned at a time when console games are more and more expensive. The consoles themselves are much more expensive than when they were launched five years ago. Therefore, although it is impossible to guess a price for the Steam Machine, as I said, If there is someone who can sell their machine at a loss because it will recover the difference with the software, that is Valve. And if they launch an affordable machine, with the market as it is, they can deal a tremendous blow to their direct competitors: consoles. But also to the PC itself. In Xataka | There are more and more physical video games that are paperweights. It is a tremendous problem for video games as art.

The PC had been gaining ground on consoles for years. Steam Machine is directly a meteorite to extinguish them

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What has been rumored around Valve for a long time has happened. No no ‘Half Life 3‘, but the return of Steam Machines. It was something that had been circulating for a while, but yesterday seemed like the day and Valve did not disappoint. They presented a new Steam Controller (with looks better than the first), the Steam Frame glasses and the cherry on top for many: its new Steam Machine. Its appearance is that of a Xbox Series Xbut flatter, and it is not only that it has all the external appearance of being a console, but that it aims to be the device that, finally, presents the PC as a serious threat to the console segment. Your argument? Which has the ease of use of a console, but also the versatility of a PC. We are not going to go into detail about its characteristics because we have already told everything there is to know about the inside of the Steam Machine and it is already estimated that its performance would be similar to that of a PS5. What I am going to do is theorize about why Valve’s new console can be the meteorite for consoles. And for Windows PCs. Now the Steam Machine can work. We have seen it on Steam Deck This thing about Steam Machines is nothing new. Not only the Steam Deck is a “Steam machine”, but because Steam Machines already existed a decade ago. At the end of 2013, Valve presented Steam OSa hybrid system between Linux and Steam focused on video games. It was green, but they wanted it to be the heart of the, also recently presentedSteam Machines. In their day, these first machines They were nothing more than pre-assembled computers thanks to the Valve partnership with brands such as Dell, Asus, Gigabyte or AlienWare. They had Steam OSthey were powerful, the hardware could be upgraded and… they didn’t make sense. Its high price, that at the time ‘gaming’ in Linux was not so developed and that to buy a PC like this, you would assemble one piece by piece, meant that Steam Machines did not take off. The fronts will be customizable In fact, all Steam hardware stumbled, from computers to the curious Steam Controller, to a steam link that was liquidated on Steam next to the command. It didn’t catch on, but Valve continued developing the idea and things were different with the Steam Deck. Following the Switch model, the Steam Deck was portable, but it could also output images to a television. It runs the games very well, it has generated a great community and it does not have Windows, but Linux and Steam OS have been its great strength. What didn’t work a decade ago works now thanks to Steam putting a lot of effort into making everything playable on the Deck: from native Linux games to Windows games that they run perfectly with something called Proton. Broadly speaking, it is a “translator” of Windows instructions so that Linux understands them and, thus, can run its games. Plus, everything is easy, intuitive, and if you just want to play, you don’t have to do weird things with the Deck. Bringing that concept from a laptop to a desktop PC was the natural step, and the new Steam Machine has something that the previous ones didn’t have. absolute support from Valve. The ecosystem That is, the company wanted the previous ones to work, but Steam OS was not mature nor did they have control over what the hardware companies did. The new Steam Machine IS from Steam, and that means that they have optimized software and hardware to make it work perfectly. It is something similar to what Apple does or what Sony and Microsoft do with AMD– PC-like components, but tweaked and tuned to meet your console needs. It seems that Valve is going with everything, which is what it did not do 10 years ago Valve itself has confirmed that they are currently fine-tuning some components, such as the GPU, with AMD. The TDP of the discrete GPU is 100W, but they have confessed who are working in a range between 100 and 130 together with the hardware company. That total control was something they didn’t have in the past, and something that didn’t happen years ago was that the components lasted as long. Like it more or less, the arrival of artificial intelligence tools in video games is showing that obsolete hardware (like the Steam Deck) can stay fresh thanks to image reconstruction tools and frame generation. When the Steam Machine arrives in early 2026your hardware will not be cutting edge (in fact, the GPU is based on RDNA3not in RDNA 4), but those AI tools are what gives valve confidence that everything will run smoothly. 4K60 thanks to FSR. Point directly to the living room It is exactly the same philosophy as a console: Closed hardware. Components adjusted by the system designer. Operating system optimized for those components. Direct support from the company that releases the hardware. And, as I said, Valve now has a reputation for supporting gaming hardware, something it has been demonstrating for years with the Steam Deck. The Steam Machine is a threat to consoles, Xbox and… the PC That’s why a Steam Machine that didn’t work in 2015 can work in 2026but there is something else: the market itself. Although consoles continue to have a high share (Sony has confirmed that a PS5 that is having a fairly weak generation in launches It has already sold more than 80 million units), things are very different now. No more big exclusives: everything comes out on PC. Excluding a Nintendo that, with nintendo switch 2 and its intellectual properties, it goes at its own pace, of course. Xbox launches its games directly on computers and consoles (in fact, it is already more third than first, becoming a heavyweight within PlayStation’s own video games) and Sony has been releasing its … Read more

New Steam Machine, features, price and technical sheet

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If you were thinking about buying a home console and were hesitating between PlayStation 5 or one Xbox Series X|Sa new player has just entered the game. Valve has presented the Steam Machinea proposal that aims high and comes with enough arguments to shake up the market. The company led by Gabe Newell has also announced a new virtual reality headset, the Steam Frameand an updated version of the Steam Controller. All of this reinforces the feeling that Valve wants to once again bet heavily on hardware and regain the prominence it had with the Steam Deck. Stam Machine technical sheet Stam Machine CPU AMD Zen 4 6 cores 12 threads Up to 4.8 GHz TDP: 30W GPU AMD RDNA3, 28 graphics cores Up to 2.45 GHz sustained TDP: 110W Support for 4K, 60 FPS gaming with FSR Ray tracing RAM memory 16GB DDR5 VRAM memory 8GB GDDR6 Storage 512GB (SSD) 2TB (SSD) Expandable via microSD Connectivity Ethernet 1Gbps WiFi 6E (2×2) USB-C 10Gbps (3.2 Gen 2) 4× USB-A ports (2× USB 3 front, 2× USB 2 rear) Operating system Steam OS Others Compatibility with third-party controllers Decorative LED light Price Unannounced Steam Machine: Valve’s great re-entry into the field of consoles Although Valve has not yet revealed the price and has only announced that its launch will take place “early 2026”, yes he has shared a good part of the specifications. The Steam Machine will come in two versions: one with 512 GB of storage and another with 2 TB, both expandable using cards microSD. It can be purchased separately or in a package with the new Steam Controller. This controller has a curious design, with the joysticks in an unusual position that invites you to try it to check its ergonomics. In any case, compatibility with other controllers – such as those for Xbox or PlayStation – is guaranteed. Inside, the console mounts a AMD Zen 4 processor with six cores and twelve threads, capable of reaching 4.8 GHz and with a TDP of 30 W. The graphics part is provided by an AMD RDNA3 GPU with 28 computing units, maximum sustained frequency of 2.45 GHz and a TDP of 110 W. On paper, the promise is clear: games in 4K and 60 FPS with FSR technology. Valve claims that the Steam Machine is “six times more powerful than the Steam Deck.” An ambitious statement, but one that makes sense if we think about the limits that the portable console already shows in some recent titles. This new machine seeks to offer a more fluid, more stable gaming experience and, above all, closer to that of a traditional desktop console. If we talk about memory, it will have 16 GB of DDR5 RAM and 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM. For now there is no data on bandwidth, but there is data on connectivity: one port HDMI 2.0one USB-C and four USB-A (two front and two rear). The operating system chosen is SteamOS, as expected. Valve has maintained its active development since the times of the first Steam Machines, that project that didn’t take offbut which served as the basis for the subsequent success of the Steam Deck. Users will be able to access thousands of games from the SteamOS catalog (a new compatibility badge will be enabled) and even to cloud gaming services like Xbox Cloud Gaming. However, some titles will remain absent, such as ‘GTA 6’, which will not be available at launch and whose future arrival is still uncertain. In any case, the Steam Machine is, in essence, a PC. So we can, for example, install another operating system like Windows to expand its possibilities. For now, there is only wait for Valve to confirm prices and specific dates launch to see if the Steam Machine manages to make its way among giants like Sony and Microsoft. Images | Valve In Xataka | ‘GTA 6’ seems invincible, but perhaps so much delay will end up taking its toll

It is equal to a three euro Steam game

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On September 2 a story started whose end is still expected to be long. That day, the United States claimed that it had shot down a drug boat off the coast of Venezuela. From then until now the tension levels have been increasing with continuous arrival of a Washington fleet in the area and a disturbing idea that floats in the air about the true magnitude of Washington’s movement. And, in response, Venezuela has just presented a simulator for its navy. A Russian video game. They counted it on Insider. At the Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army of Venezuela, in Caracas, they spread recently images of young cadets learning to handle kamikaze drones through flight simulators. The machines, covered and equipped with joysticks and flat screens, were intended to show the technological leap of the Venezuelan army in terms of unmanned warfare. However, the video images caused international surprise: the software used is practically identical (if not the same) to the Russian video game FPV Kamikaze Dronedeveloped by the company HFM Games and sold on the Steam platform for just $3.99. The shadow of the copy. The interface, graphics, engine physics and even the mission selection menu are exactly the same. From Moscow, the studio’s own co-founder, Aleksei Kolotilov, confirmed that there was never contact with the Venezuelan government nor any adaptation of the program for military purposes. “Our game was created only for civil entertainment,” he said, ironically saying that, if Caracas wanted to thank the “involuntary collaboration,” they could “send a couple of barrels of oil” in exchange for fixing some software bugs. Cheap simulators. He institutional videospread between patriotic speeches and slogans of loyalty, was published just when the tension between the United States and Venezuela reached one of its peaks. highest peaks in years, fueling fears of an open confrontation. In other materialthe army commander, General Johan Hernández Lárez, solemnly states that the young people are “ready to destroy the enemy”, while a cadet shows how his virtual drone is launched against a complex of buildings, in a recreation identical to the missions of the Russian game. In another broadcast recording For the academy itself, a uniformed presenter thanks the Armed Forces for the “joint effort” that allowed them to acquire the simulators, while dozens of cadets practice in a row of terminals with recreational aesthetics. From Ukraine to Caracas. we have told before: FPV drones have become a lethal tool low-cost, popularized by the Ukrainian army and quickly adopted by powers and developing countries. Unlike reconnaissance drones, FPVs are operated as if the operator were inside them, allowing for precise attacks at low cost. Their proliferation has transformed battlefields, democratizing the ability to inflict harm. In the Ukrainian war, pilots train with digital programsbut they must also demonstrate their expertise in real tests before operating in combat. Armies around the world have taken note, and now even countries without a technological tradition, like Venezuela, are seeking to adapt the model with limited resources. The symbolic effect. The use of a commercial video game as a supposed military simulator reveals the paradox of the Venezuelan defense apparatus: an army that exhibits power, but depends from improvised means. In a context of international sanctions, technological isolation and scarce resources, the adoption of Russian civilian software to train officers becomes both a propaganda gesture and a symbol of precariousness. Unlike the United States or Ukraine itself, where learning is completed with real practices, the Venezuelan army seems to resort to low cost solutions to project an image of modernization. However, beyond the irony of a cheap video game being transformed into a military tool, the episode reflects another global trend: the blurring of the border between digital entertainment and real war, where the preparation of soldiers and the simulation of combat can depend, literally, on software designed for gaming. Image | Military Academy of the Bolivarian Army In Xataka | The US has sent B-1 bombers into Venezuelan airspace: everything that is happening is close to a word In Xataka | The US has several warships deployed off Venezuela. Venezuela has a Soviet missile capable of penetrating them

15 years were not enough for Amazon to defeat Steam. Now that defeat is taking its toll on him.

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In 2025, Amazon faces a deep crisis that challenges its hegemony. The obvious signs are mass layoffs what you are facing in the last few days, or the massive crash of your cloud serviceAmazon Web Services (AWS), which globally affected numerous digital platforms. But before, there have been multiple signs, some more subtle than others, that have made it clear that his gigantism was preventing him from precisely combating apparently much weaker rivals. One of its last bosses, Ethan Evans, has made it clear by recounting how Amazon tried to impose itself on the leading digital video game distribution platform, Steam. And despite having many more resources, it failed miserably. A revealing chapter. The failure of Prime Gaming within Amazon is a revealing chapter, and has been clearly exposed by Ethan Evans, former vice president of Prime Gaming. In a post that shared on his Linkedin profileEvans said that Amazon decidedly opted to compete with Steam, trusting in its size and resources to prevail. However, this strategy not only failed, but also showed a deep disconnection with the ecosystem in which its rival operated. According to Evans, the company tried everything to unseat Steam, from mergers with smaller stores that it intended to grow, to launching its own services such as Luna cloud gaming platform. But it never managed to deliver an experience that was significantly better. What went wrong. Evans says that one of the critical failures was underestimating the value of Valve, which combined a robust offering with a consolidated community and an interface adapted to the needs of players. Amazon mistakenly believed that its dominant presence and technological infrastructure would be enough, without understanding that players had already solved many of their problems and were unwilling to change. Evans adds to all this problems of focus, frequent changes in direction and the lack of a clear value proposition within a highly segmented and competitive market. As Evans himself says, there were experts who pointed out that this failure was foreseeable given the saturation and maturity of the digital gaming market, where differentiation requires not only capital, but also an innovative vision and solid relationships with users. Prime Gaming, in free fall. Prime Gaming is, perhaps, one of the departments of Amazon’s business that is suffering the most. In 3dJuegos they detail a “huge” cut that especially affects its MMO projects. Amazon will carry out a restructuring that will bring with it a very significant number of layoffs, including a total of 14,000 employees, with a direct impact on the Irvine and San Diego studios, which worked on titles such as ‘New World’ and the MMO based on ‘The Lord of the Rings’. Despite these cuts, Amazon will keep its video game division active, but with a different approach: they will focus on more sustainable products and agreements with third parties instead of continuing with their own big-budget developments. They continue to function as a distributor of the new ‘Tomb Raider’ and the Open world driving game from Maverick Gamessimilar to ‘Forza Horizon 5’. They also have a project from their studio in Montreal, ‘March of Giants’, moving forward with a closed alpha. The official justification for the restructuring is linked to the need to be “more agile” in a context of the explosion of artificial intelligence and changing markets. Goodbye, ‘New World’. Without a doubt, the project that suffers the most from these changes is ‘New World’, an MMO that will soon be discontinued and whose servers will close sometime in 2026. Season 10 and the latest updates, including the ‘Nighthaven’ expansion, will be the last content that the game will receive. As a way of thanking the community, Amazon made the “Rise of the Angry Earth” expansion free for all PC players, which multiplied users to a very notable but apparently insufficient 40,000 daily players. Massive restructuring. Amazon is preparing, at all levels, for major structural changes, starting with the massive reduction of its corporate workforce. As has been knownAmazon plans to cut between 14,000 and 30,000 jobs globally. The impact of the layoffs will be especially felt in areas such as human resources, advertising, payments, device development (including Fire TV), customer analytics and Audible. The overcontracting that took place during the pandemic and the need to redirect resources towards strategic areas such as artificial intelligence are presented as some of the reasons in a very complex situation. In Xataka | Amazon has calculated how much it costs to lay off 600,000 employees: 30 cents per item sold and many robots

A player has an insane record, 40,000 games purchased on Steam. That there is a badge to reward him is what is disturbing

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Neither collecting neither gambling addiction: This is pure and simple accumulation. But with a clear objective: to obtain the badge that recognizes the possession of no less than 40,000 games in Steam. An achievement that has already been recognized by databases like SteamDB and that undoubtedly leaves anyone breathless who thinks that the store’s seasonal sales get a little out of hand. We are nothing more than insects contemplating a giant. Sonix the Collector. The milestone has been reached by the user Sonix (SonixLegend), who has become the first person to have more than 40,000 games in his library. The badge is “Game Collector: 40,000+” (the highest of this type that can be achieved) and, according to SteamDB, Sonix reached 40,029 games on September 23, 2025. It now has 40,366. In addition, it adds 22,136 DLCs and the thing does not end here, since it maintains a wish list with 26,936 titles. More data? His favorite game is ‘Alien Swarm’, a semi-unknown free-to-play multiplayer shooter from 2010 to which he has dedicated a whopping 551 hours. A paste. Steam estimates the value of the Sonix collection at $250,041 based on the lowest prices available, but the current total cost would exceed $612,072. And since this includes both purchased titles and free games and promo codes, it is impossible to calculate the true value of what has been purchased. Sonix is ​​based in Shanghai, and has been active on Steam for fifteen years. Your profile shows a level of 303, which is equivalent to activity well above average. Other beasts. The Sonix brand is closely followed by other compulsive buyers. Ian Brandon Anderson is close to achieving the coveted badge, with 39,786 games and is closely followed by a third user, ikun, with 36,888. Interestingly, the three largest collectors achieved new records for the number of games purchased on the same day. We don’t know if it specifically means anything, except that Steam continues to be in enviable health, and that this form of compulsive collecting is not an isolated eccentricity of Sonix: at this moment there are almost 20 users with more than 30,000 games, and the top 50 are all above 22,000. Collecting is not what it used to be. Without a doubt, digital collecting has very different nuances than that of accumulators of physical material: the capacity to store digital material, for example, is practically unlimited. And the constant flow of very substantial discounts in stores like Steam itself makes it possible for collections to multiply at a very notable speed. Or put another way: without realizing it, your Steam library has hundreds, perhaps thousands of items? You have to make a very consistent effort to reach those extremes in physical video game collecting. Playing is another story. Of course, playing all these games is impossible, and we enter into issues that have little to do with the enjoyment of what was purchased: reaching the figure of 40,000 games purchased regardless of what they are or, in the case of physical collecting, buying catalogs of consoles that in a high percentage are made up of low quality games, but that must be had due to completism. There are already studies that define this completism as a form of behavior that has little to do with the acquisition of something we like for our enjoyment and, in these cases, talk about addiction It is not completely left out of the equation. Header | Erik Mclean in Unsplash

The Rog Xbox Ally already has a release date and a novelty to Steam Deck. The price is still the hot potato

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We have passed years sailing between rumors of one Portable xbox And, finally, the launch of the Rog Xbox Ally. Xbox did not have a traditional laptop, but they have demonstrated consoles such as Nintendo Switch 2 either Steam Deck It is that technology has been prepared to offer desktop experiences in the palm of the hand. With machines like Lenovo Legion Go either Asus Rog Ally being Consolidated PCXbox saw his opportunity and, in June of this year, he closed his conference showing the Rog Xbox Ally. We have had to wait until Gamescom To know some more detail of this portable Xbox, such as the launch date and a set of games to Steam Deck. Of the price … We are talking another day. Rog Xbox Ally is close If you are interested in the machine, points the date: October 16. It will be then when we can get both with Rob Xbox Ally and with a more powerful version, the Rog Xbox Ally X. Xbox has updated its page of product to offer this data, and it is also where we can see the most important details of a machine that, in essence, is a consolidated PC manufactured by Rog -asus-, but with a system that, to vary, is not Windows 11. It is a more optimized system thinking about video games and that does not consume as many background resources as the Windows that competition has. Is very similar to launcher PC Xbox, giving access to the Xbox bar that allows you to record item, put customizable widgets and other tools. It also has the possibility of play cloud titles Beyond PC natives, as well as progress in the cloud to continue games regardless of what ‘Xbox’ system we play. AND, how is a PCallows to join Xbox games libraries and other platforms such as Steam or GOG. The optimized games tab The most interesting thing is that, as in Steam Deck, the Rog Xbox Ally will have a section in the interface that allows us to see what games are optimized for this game in portable format. It is something similar to what Steam Deck proposes with the verification of the games To know at a glance if the games will go without problems, either with some adjustments or if they are not compatible. How our partners say 3DJUGOSthe function (baptized ‘Handheld Compatibility’) will have two levels: Optimized for portable devices. “This indicates that the games are ready to work, with Inputs Standard of the controls, an intuitive text income method, precise iconography, clear readability of the texts and an appropriate resolution in full screen mode, so you can invest less time adjusting the configuration, and more in defeating the next great boss. “ Mostly compatible. “This indicates that games may require minor configurations changes In-game for optimal experience on portable devices. “ We can see it in action here: And, apart from arriving under the arm of Xbox itself, the console has its own arguments to be taken into account when executing games. The hardware of the two versions promisesand a lot: Rog Xbox Ally X Rog Xbox Ally System Windows 11 custom Windows 11 custom Processor AMD Ryzen Ai Z2 Extreme AMD Ryzen Z2 Memory 24 GB LPDDR5X at 8000 MHz 16 GB LPDDR5X at 6400 MHz Storage 1 TB M.2 2280 What can we change 512 GB M.2 2280 What can we change Screen IPS 7 -inch Panel FullHD resolution Relationship 16: 9 120 Hz of refresh and vrr GORILLA GLASS VICTUS protection Anti -reflex screen IPS 7 -inch Panel FullHD resolution Relationship 16: 9 120 Hz of refresh and vrr GORILLA GLASS VICTUS protection Anti -reflex screen Ports USB 4 Type-C USB 3.2 Type-C MicroSD UHS-II Jack of headphones 2 x USB 3.2 Type-C MicroSD UHS-II Jack of headphones Connectivity Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth 5.4 Wi-Fi 6e Bluetooth 5.4 Dimensions and weight 290.8 x 121.5 x 50.07 mm 715 grams 290.8 x 121.5 x 50.07 mm 670 grams Burden 80 Wh 60 Wh Now, regardless of knowing the release date, there is another fact that Microsoft has not given and that was expected for this Gamescom: the price of the Xbox Ally Rog. Rumors have been pointing at 900 euros for a while for the most powerful version and gave the nail with the date, but From the price we still know nothing. Officially, of course. It is a fact that is stored for later and that dependsseg the company itself, of the “macroeconomic conditions”. Surely the same ones that have led Nintendo to Upload the price of Nintendo Switch 1 In several markets eight years after their original launch or those that are pushing Sony and Microsoft to Upload the PS5 price every little time and Xbox Series xsomething that had not happened before in the console segment. We will have to continue waiting, but there are less than two months left to make it official. In Xataka | I’ve been playing video games for years and now the first thing I do before buying them is simple: look what they are in the cloud

Steam gift cards have become an unequivocal symptom of something increasingly worrying: love scams

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“I work in a store where we have Steam gift cards. Today an older lady came twice and bought cards worth $ 500. It turns out that $ 1,600 has been spent in recent days. How is it possible for someone to need so much money for Steam? “ The message published it A Reddit user that he showed his concern for the lady, and suspected that he was perhaps being scammed. Most like that it was happening just that. It is a case of book of Scam of love. One that over the years, of course, has adopted several forms and has ended becoming an epidemic. These types of scams usually have the same modus operandi: The scammer creates a false identity to gain the trust and affection of a victim. Many of those victims are older people who feel alone and find a company (and hope of something more) in those conversations. They usually use attractive profiles and create intense emotional relationships. The scammers dodge a personal meeting at all costs. They always live outside, on an oil platform, or work in the armed forces in some country in conflict. Once they earn that trust, they request money under various excuses. For example, medical emergencies, trips or investments. Precisely the way in which these payments require is what varies. One of the methods used by some scammers It is cryptocurrency paymentbut that is usually a complex way for older people and without computer knowledge. In recent years a method has especially imposed on others: Gift cards. These gift cards – for example, of Steam, but also from Google Play or Netflix, among others – are a perfect way to request money because, in the first place, they are irreversible transactions, and secondly, because they allow scammers to hide their footprint since they are anonymous and very difficult to track. A dangerously ideal means for scams These cards are simply codes that are once held by the scammer can be converted into money in different ways: They can resell them in gray resale markets online or in forums such as Telegram. They also usually resell them to attract buyers They can redeem them in false or third -party Steam accounts, and then they can sell those games as gifts to other people. They can even recharge false accounts and then resell them to gamers interested in them. They may also convert the balance of these cards into cryptocurrencies. Not directly, but through intermediaries They do accept gift cards as payment method for cryptoactive. Or use those cards legitimately and buy games or digital content that they then give. That serves to appear that they are generous in later scams in those that use those gifts as bait. In those scams of love, this type of Steam cards therefore become an ideal way to “facilitate” the victim to send money and do so in a very difficult way to monitor. Older people are the favorite victims of scammers –They have seen cases by everywhere, some that go from Notable Simply extraordinary– And that’s why it is important to try to alert them. Here the stores and shopping centers that sell these types of cards should have some type of policy to detect too frequent purchases of these cards and for Notify potential victims of this type of scams. For the rest of the users, a petition: do not buy gift cards through unofficial roads: otherwise, we are likely to contribute to the problem not mitigating. In Xataka | A “fine” on the windshield, a QR and a false website: thus begins the scam that tries to steal money from your card

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