Gabe Newell and Valve have some new hardware on the way, dubbed “The Steam Box”. It’s aiming to bring the PC experience of Steam a step closer to living rooms in a smaller package, something that will have Valve competing directly with the console big three for that precious digital real eastate. But the thing is, Valve doesn’t see Microsoft and Sony as their competition. Instead, it’s Apple that Valve co-founder Gabe Newell believes will become their biggest rival.
Speaking at the University of Texas that Polygon was in attendance for, Newell explained that Apple had the infrastructure and installed consumer base to take a serious bite out of the market,;
"The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform," Newell said. "I think that there’s a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging – I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"
"I think the biggest challenge is that Apple moves on the living room before the PC industry sort of gets its act together."
It’s one thing to pay attention to Valve and their massive library of Steam games attempting to escape into living rooms, but when they mention competition from the Capcom of hardware creators, Apple, that’s an interesting statement. Apple as it is now, seriously needs to once again look at innovation, because with an iPad 4having arrived mere months after the “new iPad” was launched, and an iPad 5 already being rumoured to hit the market at the end of the year, even the hipsters are laughing.
But as Newell says, it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the house of Jobs. Who knows, maybe they’ll actually will pose a threat in the market in the years to come.
Last Updated: January 31, 2013
