Steam Hides the Steam Machine from Site Navigation

Valve had dipped their hands in many baskets over the years. While some have been a great success (Looking at you HTC Vive), others have fallen flat. Now Valve is looking to bury their mistake, having delisted the Steam Machine from their hardware section.

The company wanted their own console, but when you own the biggest digital game marketplace in the world, how do you sell that? Their solution was the Steam Machine. this device was essentially a computer connected to a Steam Controller and running SteamOS. Gamers could navigate their game selection, store, and more from Steam Big Picture Mode.

The project was rife with issues, however. After delays and a high price, hype for the Steam Machine diminished quickly. SteamOS behaved like another Linux distro that was too buggy and slow, pushing potential players to prefer Windows 10. Originally limited to Linux compatible games, potential buyers didn't have enough reason to choose the Steam Machine over a traditional console or a PC.

And now, the game distribution giant has hidden the console. When you visit the Hardware section of Steam, you will see the Steam Controller, Steam Link, and the HTC Vive. The actual hardware section is gone, as well. Instead, the hardware drop-down list directs you to each item's specific page. Users can still visit the Steam Machine page and purchase them, but they are not directly linked on the site's navigation.

It's unfortunate to see any project fail, but you can't win them all. I'm sure they can afford to take a loss here and there.