Alienware Expects to Make Little Money from Steam Machines

It’s not often you hear a company brag about how much money it’s not going to make, but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose.

As you may or may not be aware, the upcoming Steam Machines--Valve’s first adventure into the world of hardware and “console” gaming—won’t have a single uniform design.   Rather, several different computer manufacturers will be making different types of Steam Machines of varying strength and cost for the expressed purpose of giving the customer options. 

One might expect, then, that well-known and reputable gaming PC manufacturer Alienware would be creating one of the stronger, expensive models, right?  Turns out to not be the case, as not only will the Alienware version of the Steam Machine be cheap, it’ll be so cheap that Alienware GM Frank Azor claims “It will absolutely be the least profitable system we ever sell”.

That doesn’t mean they expect it to sell badly, mind, or that it won’t pinch your pockets at all--it’s projected to be priced at a similar level as the Xbox One and the Playstation 4, after all.  But considering the hardware used and the cost of production, and the fact that it will be hosting a powerful engine in a small console, the amount of money Alienware can expect to make per-unit will probably be fairly low—at least compared to the PC’s they sell primarily.

That said, at least the Steam OS is free to use for customers and companies alike, so they don’t have to give Microsoft or Valve a cut of any of the money they do take in. 

All this talk of the Steam Machines has got me thinking: while having a wide selection of Steam Machines to choose from is nice, aren’t they all sort of competing with each other as well?   If the Alienware version of the Steam Machine makes a profit but the Digital Storm version (a solid $1,500 to buy: quite a hefty sum to play Day Z from your couch) tanks, will it be supported by the Alienware version or will it simply not be produced anymore?  I suppose it’s still too early to ask these kinds of questions, but I can’t help but wonder…