I just read in Wikipedia that Valve is privately helded.
There must be something magical in the fact that they don’t need to feed their shareholders with mountains of cash every quarter, and actually focus on their customers, as happened in this post.
True, private companies are generally more focused on customer satisfaction, but that can suddenly change, for instance when the owner dies, and the new owners don’t share the same ideals.
Private companies have a certain single point of failure built-in by having often just one or sometimes a small number of owners.
Nobody really knows what will happen when Gabe dies.
I just hope that valve becomes a worker cooperative… That would be the most stable form of company that probaly stays focused on customer satisfaction long term, since workers tend to favor providing long-term profits via good service instead of short term gains, for high frequency traders.
Gabe-AI, it’s the only one I’d trust to run Valve. We need to preserve his personality starting today!
And the fact is they still make a mountain of cash every quarter, just by focusing on their customers.
I don’t know about that. They run one of the most predatory examples of gambling in gaming.
The new EU ruling really brought to light how big of a problem the CS:GO gambling is.
Is gambling really that bad though? It’s voluntary. Valve isn’t forcing you to buy keys or cases if you don’t want them
It’s addictive. We regulate other addictive things like cigarettes, no reason we shouldn’t put guard rails on gambling. We already do, but I think we’ve got to the end regs in a few areas.
Same argument could be made for Heroin that is illegal as fuck.
but what about the latest investment fad like AI or NFTs? Won’t they think of the poor scammers?
to be fair Sony still updates the ps3, i think
Also to be fair they tried to kill PSN store on the PS3 but the resulting backlash made them realize to do so would kill customer faith in the PS4 and PS5 PSN stores and so they backed off. Nintendo could only get away with it because they already trained us not to trust their online stores and buy physical only. Since Steam doesn’t have a physical option they need to play their cards right.
They only do it to make sure the latest Blu Rays work AFAIK. this is also how they get the decryption keys for the latest movies lol
Easy answer. Valve prints money.
Twitter (sorry, X.com) is also privately held now so it’s not always a happy story :/
Ofc not, what you need to show is a public company that does not fuck over customers
Fun fact, they used to be public but Gabe took it back private after realizing how shitty it was having to answer to shareholders.
That’s an interesting piece of info
Wow, when they were practically giving those away, I figured they were washing their hands of it. It’s amazing that it’s still being supported.
Mine was $1! I love it. I just bought a wireless mouse and keyboard for it, because it’s honestly just a great way to stream stuff. Now my computer can be in my living room, and my office at the same time!
I’ve got one I never hooked up. Can you just control the computer in general or do you only get access to steam? I wanted to jellyfin with it maybe
You can do both. The default is Big Picture mode, but you can back out if it and get a desktop.
But, you’ll basically have to be a foot or two from the PC to read anything unless you have a desktop environment set up for a large screen (KDE plasma has a TV version)
You can control the computer but it boots in big picture so you need to escape it to get to the desktop
I remember that sale and annoyed I didn’t buy one. At the time I thought I’d never use it. Fast forward a few years and I occasionally use Steam Link on a Raspberry Pi, so I would have used it. Oh well.
Think about it though. Probably some overlap with the deck. And hiring one dev very part time to keep this thing alive is nothing for them. Which makes the steam deck way more lucrative
Tell me you don’t know how valve works without telling me you don’t know how valve works.
That’s actually really awesome.
Maybe the Steam Link and Controller weren’t as popular as Valve hoped they would be, but damn everyone who still has them seems to love them. Maybe I’m biased because I still have my controller and love it, and I gave away my Steam link because my Deck can do that too, but my friend who received the link is loving it.
The Steam Controller is one of the best pieces of hardware I ever bought. There’s something incredibly chill about playing strategy games not originally meant for controller on the couch. I also genuinely like fiddling with cool setups and radial menus for it.
I never really liked the Steam Controller when it first came out. My Dad was actually the one that had gotten them and even he seemed to have set them aside after awhile, as they just collected dust for ages after that. I picked them up from him a few years back and I’ve started using them with my Steam Deck and they’re actually pretty nice, I get it now, though I kind of wish they still had analog sticks.
I loved my stream controller so much I recently bought a second on eBay
Bruh steam controller goes for 200$ idk what you talking bout
Valve was selling their controllers for $5 to blow out the stock (one per account).
but today is 2024 my good sir
So a good year to use a static avatar and a readable user name is what you’re saying?
100$ pay pal and you can choose my font and image
I’m talking about how Valve dumped them for $5 a piece because they clearly weren’t selling enough.
It’s technically a collectors item now
I bought one during the clearance sale for the price of shipping, assuming that it would be abandoned but maybe still useful as a low-power linux server. I guess I ought to set it up and take advantage of it.
Thanks, Valve, for not letting these things become instant e-waste.
I love mine. It does one thing, and it does it well. That’s exactly what I wanted from it
If you have proper full continuous deployment infrastructure setup then you can do minor updates of things like dependencies automatically. I’d guess that’s what’s happening here.
Amazing how many products just don’t.
What do you use it for?
As someone who continues using a Steam Link for its original intended use of game streaming, this strikes me as a somewhat silly question. Haha.
Maybe I am just not adventurous enough with mine to consider other uses?
I often use it to watch Hulu and such on my tv, as even though the tv has its own app, I can’t put an adblocker on those, but I can use my browser through the steam link and have all the ads blocked. Just one other type of use for it!
Also can be used to stream from less reputable sources, which don’t have TV apps and don’t work with Chromecast
Neat. This would be a way to run SponsorBlock too.
A PiHole can be a good solution for ads like that.
Yeah I have one set up - it’s sorta meh.
Most ads from things you look at can be stopped by just an ad blocker plugin for the browser (uBlock Origin). The Pi can’t stop ads when they come directly from the sever of the company you’re viewing (like from YouTube or Facebook ads).
The Pi just has a library of known advertising domains and doesn’t let those past the router, but because the major corps like YouTube don’t use 3rd party domains, the Pi won’t stop it.
For the TV scenario here id recommend just installing a new Linux based OS on it as this would be just as good as the streaming device, but free.
In my experience, it works a little better if you add some more third party blocklists and custom RegEx.
However, the main pain point is the first one you mentioned: if the ads come from the same server as the content, blocking the ads also blocks the content. So you do have to rely on other solutions to block ads of that nature.
Use a dns server that does ad blocking for you. Or, just run a pi hole. Even an old 3B will handle it fine. I do both, but my VPN company provides the dns services.
Although some streaming services won’t let you watch anything if you don’t unblock their advertising (which is a good reason to unsubscribe)
That’s a lot more work than just continuing to use the solution I already have set up for the same end result.
I’m surprised it still gets support ans I guess treaning games from pc rather than plugging pc in just isnt as common in general.
When I had one it was great for streaming games to the living room from my PC. There are so many great couch party games on the PC and by using the link we could get controllers and video to stream perfectly.
Did you not ever have to have a controller plugged in the host and Link per player? That’s a quirk I’ve faced using my laptop as the Steam Link device, streaming from my desktop.
Wireless controllers 🤷🏽♀️
I used mine same way but I been spoiled by high res from just long hdmj cable.
I still have my old one. I used to use it to stream Steam to my living room TV, since my gaming PC was in my office on my second floor. The wife wanted to hang out, but she’d always be distracted on her phone and there wasn’t room in my office for us to comfortably sit together, so I’d game from the TV while she sat with me on the couch.
I haven’t used the physical Steam Link in a few years, though. My newest Smart TV has a Steam Link app on it, which does everything the physical device did. Maybe that’s why the physical one still gets updates; because the software is still being supported as a TV app.
Why I’m surprised there is still a use for it. But also not really since older hardware doesn’t mean bad hardware, just uncommon.
I use mine all the time. I use it to play games and watch TV/movies through my computer. I plan on using it for my kids account because games are so much cheaper on PC and have support forever.
I can plug any of my controllers in or m&k and have zero issues doing whatever I want.
It’s a shame it died so quickly.
That’s because unlike most other businesses steam understands that if you want people to keep buying your products, you need to provide a decent service
Which is why you can’t buy a Steam Link, amiright?
I use mine regularly, and I would be sad if it completely breaks.
I own and like the steam link, but the reason they don’t sell it anymore is because the steam link app is on most smart devices now, and if your TV doesn’t support it, you can buy a streaming stick that does for like $30, give or take depending on sales. And those devices are more portable (less wires) and more versatile than a steam link.
Any competitive price for the steam link would be less than what Valve can produce them for. Weren’t they selling it for $5 at the end? Pretty sure I picked mine up for $10 or less. Steam can’t show ads to subsidize the price of the hardware like every other smart device does.
Do you just plug the controller/mouse/keyboard into the TV USB port?
The Steam Link itself has USB ports, the Steam Link apps all use Bluetooth controllers
I’ve never tried, that might work? Connecting via bluetooth works. You can even use the tv remote!
Bruh they sell 50 meter hdmi cords
the reason they don’t sell it anymore is because the steam link app is on most smart devices now
Not available for Roku or webOS. That’s hardly “most smart devices”.
Not available for Roku or webOS. That’s hardly “most smart devices”.
From this article…
Steam Link connects your device to any computer that’s running Steam.
Get it now for:
- iPhone, iPad, & Apple TV (11.0+)
- Android (5.0+) phone, tablet, & TV
- Android users without access to Google Play
- Raspberry Pi 3, 3+, & 4 *Windows
- Linux
- MacOS
- Meta Quest 2, 3 and Pro
I wonder if you added up the percentage of ownership for all those devices listed above, versus all smart devices including Roku and webOS, what the numbers would look like.
I’m not sure if Tizen OS (Samsung TV) is lumped under “Android” (I’m not even sure if it is Android?) but it also works great on every Samsung TV I’ve tried it on!
So, a product that has been discontinued doesn’t mean that it needs to lose software support, was the point I was trying to make. It would be nice if they still sold them but still good that the people that own them can continue to use them and are receiving security updates for them.
I think it’s important that companies like google, samsung, apple, etc are held to at least this standard where products don’t need to be changed unless they actually break, rather than forcing software changes that break or reduce effectiveness of the product to try and force the consumer to produce e-waste and buy a new product.
Nothing wrong with wanting new products, however that should be a personal decision made at a personal level by a consumer not one forced onto them by a company who designed products using the planned obsolescence doctrine.
That’s the thing about Valve. They really know and do software as good as anyone else in the business.
Let’s not pretend alt tabbing a source game was possible pre 2013
True, but the Steam overlay is a good workaround
Same! That thing is so useful.
This post reminded me that it’s supposed to be used for gaming. I’ve had mine since it was first released and have always used it to turn my TV into a PC monitor to watch YouTube and Movies from my bed
Wow , Valve is really an amazing company!!
I love this little piece of hardware.
I bought one back in the day but always had input/video lag. Does yours work smoothly?
I use one and it’s pretty smooth. Depends on the connection though. Definitely needs wired connection.
Or a strong wifi network. I have a bunch of wired access points and was able to get really smooth streaming
Mine was never willing to work on WiFi, so it got put in a box for a while until I ran my own Ethernet cables all around the house. Now it’s great!
It’s been so long since I used it that I can’t remember if I had it wired or wireless. I’ll have to break it out and try it again.
When I had it wireless it was inconsistent. Sometimes it was fine, sometimes unplayable.
I have lag even with wired connection.
Fair. It’s not foolproof like that. All networks are not created equal and also different people may have different thresholds for noticing
Pretty sure the network is not the issue. Not sure what is, though. I suspect HiDPI or the GPU.
I had to tweak some settings on my PC and lower the output to 720p but mine seems to work pretty well with that.
Maybe you need to put your tv in gaming mode so that the refresh rate is adapted to the input. Had the same problem with my AppleTV
