Former PlayStation boss calls Valve's Steam Machine "meh," asks if he's "going back to PS4 days"

[midian182]

Sounding off: Despite being sold out and appearing on eBay for as much as $3,000, the Steam Machine hasn't impressed a lot of people. One of those is Shuhei Yoshida, the former president of SIE Worldwide Studios at Sony and head of independent games at PlayStation. He described Valve's console as "meh" and asked if he was "going back to PS4 days?"

Yoshida is one of many people who bought a Steam Machine following its official launch, despite its high price. He posted an image of the device next to his TV, along with his thoughts after playing with it for a few hours. Most were far from positive.

Yoshida's first complaint was one that many reviewers have highlighted: the performance, which he described as "meh." He also took issue with the recommendation to default to 1080p, leading to his PS4 comparison.

– Shuhei Yoshida (@yosp) July 2, 2026

Valve faced plenty of criticism for its original claim that the Steam Machine was capable of 4K gaming at 60 fps with FSR. For most games, that was only true when the graphics presets were dropped to their lowest settings, and some titles still couldn't achieve 4K/60fps. It's why Valve quietly changed the line to a more accurate "Up to 4K gaming with FSR 4.1" last week.

While he also complained about boot times and Steam Controller's loose sticks, Yoshida did have some good things to say about the Steam Machine. He praised the system UI being easy to use, being able to boot via the Steam controller, and changeable face plates.

Yoshida's conclusion was that the Steam Machine's ability to let him play Steam games in his living room made it worth keeping.

The caveat, however, was that the former PlayStation boss still finds it hard to recommend the Steam Machine because of its controversial $1,049 starting price. Again, that's something many reviewers concluded.

Even though most agree that the Steam Machine is underpowered and overpriced, it's still sold out. If, for some reason, you're desperate to get your hands on one, there are plenty on eBay going for two to three times what Valve is charging.

In related news, recent tests by Gamers Nexus found that Valve's use of a single stick of RAM in the Steam Machine can cost up to 20% performance in some games.

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Former PlayStation boss calls Valve's Steam Machine "meh," asks if he's "going back to PS4 days"

 

[Rapob]

Steam Machine for sure is a meh release.

Weak soldered CPU plus a weak soldered GPU with soldered VRAM. They even used a single stick of memory to further keep prices down (while still asking a premium) so you loose 5-20% performance depending on game, on top of the already mediocre performance numbers.

It is more like a console than a PC in this regard, NOT upgradeable - every chip is soldered - just without the usual console optimization you see Playstation and Xbox is getting.

Game developers try and sqeeze the best performance out of the hardware on consoles, but Steam Machine gets no love here. It is just a low-end PC.
Which makes the weak hardware look/run even worse.
Running Linux limits the game catalog even further.

Steam Machine is nothing but a low-end PC, that can't really be upgraded outside of storage and RAM. Not even the most expensive version uses 2 DIMMs, you pay for the 2TB SSD only. 512GB SSD in the base model, is laughable.

Sales numbers will be even more miserable than Steam Deck, is my prediction.

Would rather want to see Steam Deck 2 OLED with upgraded APU - Zen 5 or better, paired with RDNA 4 or better. Steam Deck lacks FSR 4 support like crazy. Zen 2 and RDNA 2 is dated stuff and most newer games runs like absolute bawls on this thing, low preset using 800p don't even bring solid 60 fps in most games...

Like Steam Machine, the Steam Deck is mostly good for emulation, old games and indies.
AAA games, forget about it unless you have really low requirements.

 

[Loadedaxe]

"Despite being sold out and appearing on eBay for as much as $3,000"

To me, the Steam Machine selling out is probably due to limited production, and some opportunistic scalping.

A lot of those listings are for a single unit, not someone sitting on a warehouse full of them. There are always people who buy a hot product, throw it on eBay at 2x MSRP, and think, "If someone buys it, great. If not, I'll just keep it."

We've seen the same thing with the PS5, RTX GPUs, and the Steam Deck. Scalpers showed up because those products were already in high demand. They didn't create the demand...they tried to profit from it.

 

[KnightSayNI]

Actual smooth 4K gaming is a farce. We've all been duped. Well unless you cheapskates start shelling out at least 4K in bucks for your cartoon simulator.

 

[fadingfool]

Actual smooth 4K gaming is a farce. We've all been duped. Well unless you cheapskates start shelling out at least 4K in bucks for your cartoon simulator.

A lot of pixels need pushing at 4k - 2k is the sweet spot. Even 1080p upscaled to 4k at the distance you sit from your TV is fine (PS5 on my 4K TV is fine - PS4 pro on my 1080p TV upstairs is also fine). If you have lived through gaming at 160x200 then all this fuss over 4k or higher is moot. Games can be great without a £3k GPU and whilst over-priced, if I had a Steam machine, most of my 1500 steam games would run fine (very few modern crappy AAA games in there). So instead I run an HDMI cable from my PC if I feel the urge for Steam gaming on the couch. A fair few of my GoG games would probably be usable as well with a bit of heroic or lutris (Epic, EA and Origin would be missing unfortunately - so around 10% of my collection).

 

[Neatfeatguy]

"Being able to boot up by pressing a button on Steam Controller is a killer feature."

I'm not sure how this is a highlight for Steam Machine because (I don't really do anything console-wise anymore) I swear that has been a feature on Xbox for a while now, maybe even on the Playstation (memory is spotty, but I thought the PS3 did this).

 

[Jim Lahey]

Changeable faceplates brings me back to the 360!

Was fun to get some special edition one.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I think valve really missed the mark with the GameCube. If the hardware could be upgraded, that would be a different story. Like if it has a slotted MXM GPU that we could upgrade with a 9060 and a socketed am5 chip you could do more with it.

As it is, it's got the same issue steam machines had, which is non upgradeable mobile hardware placing a very limited lifespan on them.

 

[The Talking Tech]

The Steam Machine is the biggest ripoff of the year.

No doubt!

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The Steam Machine is the biggest ripoff of the year.

No doubt!

Bigger then the Trump Phone?

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Valve is going to learn a hard lesson that sometimes not releasing a product is better than releasing a product that generates a shitload of bad publicity from a bunch of people who don't have to and never were going to buy it in the first place.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Valve is going to learn a hard lesson that sometimes not releasing a product is better than releasing a product that generates a shitload of bad publicity from a bunch of people who don't have to and never were going to buy it in the first place.

"You're not buying the turd on a plate, therefore you cannot have an opinion on it".

LMFAO.

 

[human7]

I think valve really missed the mark with the GameCube. If the hardware could be upgraded, that would be a different story. Like if it has a slotted MXM GPU that we could upgrade with a 9060 and a socketed am5 chip you could do more with it.

As it is, it's got the same issue steam machines had, which is non upgradeable mobile hardware placing a very limited lifespan on them.

I don't think upgradability is something that matters in the console space. The whole idea of a console is that it's an appliance you can just plug and play.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I don't think upgradability is something that matters in the console space. The whole idea of a console is that it's an appliance you can just plug and play.

The steam machine is a mini PC, not a console.

Also, ever heard of the n64 expansion pack? The PS2 upgrade bay? Addons and expansions were part of the console space for a long time.

 

[Hecate91]

Expecting 4K out of a tiny 6x6 mini PC is having way too high expectations.
The Steam Machine is intended to be an easy to use system you plug into your TV, and MXM as a GPU form factor disappeared years ago.
Though the loudest opinions have been from those who would never buy the Steam Machine anyway, you don't have to buy the Steam Machine. SteamOS can be installed on your own DIY PC.

 

[GodisanAtheist]

Expecting 4K out of a tiny 6x6 mini PC is having way too high expectations.
The Steam Machine is intended to be an easy to use system you plug into your TV, and MXM as a GPU form factor disappeared years ago.
Though the loudest opinions have been from those who would never buy the Steam Machine anyway, you don't have to buy the Steam Machine. SteamOS can be installed on your own DIY PC.

- My parts always flow from my primary PC to my "Steambox" which is just a Windows PC that autolaunches Steam into big picture mode, hooked up to my TV.

Functionally a console minus a few bells and whistles, but with WAY more horsepower than any of the consoles out there (5600X/6800XT/32GB).

Had my steambox in some form or another for the last 5 years or so.

 

[human7]

The steam machine is a mini PC, not a console.

Also, ever heard of the n64 expansion pack? The PS2 upgrade bay? Addons and expansions were part of the console space for a long time.

Yeah, but it's positioned as a console. Fair point about the expansions, though with the starting price as it is, I'm not sure that changes the calculus much.

 

[bviktor]

Funny guy. He says it's quiet because it's small.

Funny, coz the exact opposite is true. Smaller for factor = more RPM and thus more noise from the smaller fans for the same CFM.

 

[Northy]

It's a shame the AI gods denied Steam Machine the hardware components it deserved for a much more compelling original release. I have high hopes for the future though, I think its a "watch this space" release.

 

[ni6hant]

We will re-assess when you can actually buy a Steam Machine normally.