Valve Says Goodbye to Steam Link But Will Continue to Offer Support

[dmartin]

Valve seemed to have the ambition to become a hardware company when he launched peripherals like his Steam Link and its Steam Controller. The scope of these products has been limited, and now the company reports that "the supply of physical Steam Link hardware devices is sold out in Europe and almost sold out in the US". Valve has discontinued the product, although the company will continue to offer support for the Steam Link.

The idea was (and still is) really nice: any decent PC or laptop can be converted into a video game and even video content server, allowing the user to enjoy those experiences on much less powerful devices through an Ethernet or a good wireless connection. They started supporting Linux and Windows desktop and laptops, but Steam Link made it possible to stream video games to Android devices (Apple rejected the application for iOS) and Samsung Smart TVs. The product, announced in 2015, therefore says goodbye, although surely those who already have it will be able to continue enjoying it for a long time.



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[FordGT90Concept]

I'm "meh" on this news. I have one. It works but it almost never gets used. I think they should get a Steam Link on Xbox One store and NVIDIA SHIELD store. Both devices are conceptually similar but have ridiculously more processing power and aren't one-trick ponies.

 

[kastriot]

Big loss for streaming community, ah well.

 

[neatfeatguy]

My younger brother likes his Steam Link. He makes use of it more often than most people. He likes to bring it with when he goes to friend's places - just needs to have someone's computer pull up his Steam account and he'll run his Steam Link to a nearby TV to play group/party games. Or he'll just feel like playing a game on his big TV downstairs and run Steam Link to it.

He kept telling me I should get one, but honestly, I don't have a use for it. I'm glad he likes his.

I never saw a practical application for the device so I'm indifferent to the direction Steam went with it.

 

[TheTechGuy1337]

That sucks, but at least they will continue support for previous owners. I mainly saw the use for one when we had a bunch of friends over, put a game on the big screen, and let everyone in on the fun. That way we could still do pc gaming or switch to console if needed. I liked the option.

 

[Deleted member 67555]

I like my link... Well worth it's $8 pricetag shipped.
I still use it for SP fighting and racing games on my TV.

 

[infrared]

Hmm, I might see if I can pick one up for a good price. I sometimes stream tomb raider to an old craptop plugged into TV, but quality is far from good.

Is the nvidia shield much better than the steam link?

 

[Fx]

Hmm, I might see if I can pick one up for a good price. I sometimes stream tomb raider to an old craptop plugged into TV, but quality is far from good.

Is the nvidia shield much better than the steam link?

Wow. This news is very surprising. I thought it was a great concept and bought one myself. I used it a lot to play games on my couch. This move doesn't make any sense to me.

 

[TheOne]

If only it could do more than stream a PC to the TV.

 

[silentbogo]

Wow. This news is very surprising. I thought it was a great concept and bought one myself. I used it a lot to play games on my couch. This move doesn't make any sense to me.

My theory is that they'll now focus on Android/iOS streaming. Home networks have become fast and responsive enough to handle game streaming with minimal lag.
It might not be fast enough for competitive games, but casual stuff feels very smooth. Definitely a huge step up from my previous experiments with NVidia gamestream + moonlight (reverse-engineered SHIELD client).
Just a few months ago I've tested my new Nokia 8 on my old ASUS RT-N66U and it delivered smooth 60 FPS with minimal input lag while playing Vanishing of Ethan Carter in 2K. Made it all the way to the mansion on my phone. If only there were more devices with MHL or DP over USB-C support (and cheap docking stations) that would boost the adoption rate exponentially.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

If only it could do more than stream a PC to the TV.

Leave Big Picture Mode and it keeps streaming. You can stream anything...until you tell Steam to to quit streaming. The compression is pretty terrible though. Something with lots of motion (like racing games) the Link will give you a serious handicap.

 

[TheOne]

Leave Big Picture Mode and it keeps streaming. You can stream anything...until you tell Steam to to quit streaming. The compression is pretty terrible though. Something with lots of motion (like racing games) the Link will give you a serious handicap.

If you have a decent connection its alright streaming the desktop, but it would have been nice if you could use it as a streaming device for Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc... when not playing games, without using the desktop. Though I do like the Steam link, I just don't use mine that often.

 

[newtekie1]

As long as they keep in home streaming, I'm happy. I use my laptop to sit on the couch and play games all the time. The laptop can play all the latest games already @1080, but I like being able to crank the details when I can using my desktop.

I do the same with my HTPC if I want to play on my big TV. I never really saw a need for the Steam Link hardware when a HTPC can basically do the same thing and can do everything else a PC can too.

 

[Ravenas]

I use my steam link all the time. This is crap.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

If you have a decent connection its alright streaming the desktop, but it would have been nice if you could use it as a streaming device for Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc... when not playing games, without using the desktop. Though I do like the Steam link, I just don't use mine that often.

I was referring to playing The Crew over my gigabit network: computer -> gigabit unmanaged 8-port switch (with only one computer plugged in ) -> gigabit managed 24-port switch -> gigabit unmanaged 5-port switch -> Steam Link. That's <1 ms response time. The car looks fine but the environment became an undetailed blur. It was very difficult to determine distances and speed with uber fast cars.

I played Dirt: Rally too and that was okay. Rally is a much slower game though, relatively speaking.


And you're absolutely right: it should have basic app support. Without having a computer running, it's worthless.


I got my Link bundled with Icey for less than $10. Thinking I might wait for inventory to clear out then sell it for a mark up.

 

[TheOne]

I was referring to playing The Crew over my gigabit network: computer -> gigabit unmanaged 8-port switch (with only one computer plugged in ) -> gigabit managed 24-port switch -> gigabit unmanaged 5-port switch -> Steam Link. That's <1 ms response time. The car looks fine but the environment became an undetailed blur. It was very difficult to determine distances and speed with uber fast cars.

I played Dirt: Rally too and that was okay. Rally is a much slower game though, relatively speaking.


And you're absolutely right: it should have basic app support. Without having a computer running, it's worthless.


I got my Link bundled with Icey for less than $10. Thinking I might wait for inventory to clear out then sell it for a mark up.

I got mine with the same bundle last year, and I agree about gaming I just meant that with a decent connection, though I use my 5GHz network, streaming the actual desktop works well enough at least for simple task.

 

[fullinfusion]

For the $7 I paid this time last year it actually works well.. on the other hand they make great Kodi Media players

 

[Ravenas]

I got mine with the same bundle last year, and I agree about gaming I just meant that with a decent connection, though I use my 5GHz network, streaming the actual desktop works well enough at least for simple task.

I play any game perfectly using a wired connection.

 

[TheOne]

I play any game perfectly using a wired connection.

With 5GHz it plays well enough, fast motion will sometimes degrade the image quality and increase latency, but it isn't that bad and is still playable, though I'm actually referring to the desktop though, streaming it works well enough over 5GHz. It is recommended to use a wired network, but I actually bought this to play with my 5GHz network I use a 2.4GHz network for most of my wireless devices.

 

[fullinfusion]

I play any game perfectly using a wired connection.

I play any game perfectly using a wireless connection

 

[CheapMeat]

Honestly surprised by this. I thought it was received as being pretty good and popular. I just bought it for $2.50 on Steam (well $10 something with taxes, etc). I couldn't help myself, I just bought the bundle Link + Controller and an extra Link for both my TV's since deeply discounted.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

no wonder the steam link is 95% off