The technology chief of Bluepoint Games (a studio recently closed by Sony) argues that the Steam Machine poses a greater threat to PlayStation‘s business model than any traditional rival. Reports suggest Sony is stepping back from its strategy of bringing single-player PS5 exclusives to Steam, and a former developer has now put forward a thought-provoking explanation for what is really driving the decision.
Sony has not gotten off to a good start in 2026. Despite announcing the remake of the God of War trilogy, the PlayStation division has lost an important studio: Bluepoint Games has closed. This team was responsible for the Demon’s Souls remake and subsequently went to work on a God of War live service game that was cancelled years after development began. After putting forward various proposals, including a Bloodborne remake, Sony decided to lay off all the developers and close a studio that specialized in remakes.
Is Steam Machine a Rival for PlayStation?
Following this, reports emerged that PlayStation intends to stop releasing PS5 exclusives on PC, breaking with the strategy of publishing single-player titles on Steam years after their PlayStation 5 release. Despite Sony‘s silence, the reasons behind this momentous decision remain unknown, though a former PlayStation developer has offered a perspective worth reflecting on.
Peter Dalton, former technology chief at Bluepoint Games, published his theory on X/Twitter about why Sony will stop releasing single-player PS5 exclusives on Steam (second-party and live service games will continue to launch on PC, as is the case with Marathon). The reason is not Xbox‘s Project Helix, but rather Valve and its upcoming Steam Machine. “Some people frame this as a response to Xbox, but I’m not convinced that’s the real reason,” Dalton wrote.
I read an interesting take on why Sony may be pulling back from pushing PC releases and instead focusing more heavily on exclusives. Some people frame this as a response to Xbox, but I’m not convinced that’s the real driver.
A more interesting possibility is the rise of a…
— Peter Dalton (@peter_dalton) March 9, 2026
“A more interesting possibility is the rise of a Steam-based console ecosystem. Consoles exist largely because they offer a cheaper and simpler alternative to PCs for gaming. For most households, a dedicated console is easier to justify than building a high-performance PC. However, if Valve releases a new Steam console [Steam Machine] that provides a console-like experience while also allowing players to access the entire PC gaming library, that could become a very attractive option,” Dalton indicated (via Gamesradar).
“In that scenario, if Sony released all its games on PC at the same time as on console, Steam Machine could offer the best of both worlds: the simplicity of a console with the full breadth of PC gaming. It would be quite ironic that, after decades of traditional console competition [the console war between PlayStation and Xbox], Valve ended up winning the console war,” he concluded. This is a view shared by Mike Ybarra, former president of Blizzard and former Xbox executive, who noted that Sony‘s competition is now Valve.
Price Defines the Competition
Dalton’s hypothesis makes sense, but there is something it overlooks: price marks the difference between a niche product and genuine competition. And that is where Steam Machine may surprise, and not in a good way. The RAM crisis, caused by the greed of artificial intelligence companies, has forced Valve to acknowledge that it has “created challenges” for them when it comes to setting an attractive price for consumers. So much so that Valve removed the mention of “first half of 2026” from its communications, meaning Steam Machine looks set to be priced in line with PCs, not with consoles.
The problem is structural and does not only affect Valve, but any company in the technology and video game industry. The RAM shortage shows no signs of being resolved this year and could even last until 2027 or beyond. This directly contradicts the central premise of Dalton’s argument. If Steam Machine ends up reaching the market at a price close to that of a mid-range PC, the advantage of the “accessible consolized PC” disappears, and with it, it ceases to be a threat to the PlayStation ecosystem.
A console has to be accessible, and if Valve cannot match the price of a PlayStation 5, then it will not be competition for Sony but rather for Xbox. Although Steam Machine still has no price or release date, Project Helix was just presented at GDC 2026, and we now know many more details about the next generation of Xbox, which will integrate the new generation of AMD FSR with support for multi-frame generation, ray tracing, and high-performance path tracing, while maintaining backwards compatibility and the Xbox Play Anywhere system, with full integration of Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
The device has been created to unify Xbox and PC libraries in a single machine, which points more toward competing with Steam Machine than with a PS5 or the future PS6. It is still too early to draw conclusions and there is much yet to be known, but for Valve to be competition for console manufacturers, Steam Machine needs to launch at 400 dollars (or thereabouts) and include a controller – a price point that does not seem likely at this stage.
Source: 3djuegos
