Valve Steam Controller delayed until 2015

You can now stream Steam but the controller is proving a little trickier to release

Valve has announced that it’s currently making improvements to its Steam Controller, based on feedback from playtesters – but those improvements mean that “we’re now looking at a release window of 2015, not 2014.”

The blog refers to delays to “our in-development Steam Machines” – and it is not clear if this reference means that the launches of third-party Steam Machines will also be postponed until the controller is available.

Valve goes on to say:

“we’re just as eager as you are to get a Steam Machine in your hands”

So it does at least seem to suggest that the release window for the Steam Machines themselves is tied in with the Steam Controller – and that we’ll have to wait until 2015 for them, too.

Steam Machines are a range of gaming PCs that run Valve’s SteamOS and meet a set of standards laid down by the company; they’re part of a push to move gaming PCs into the living room, where they’ll compete with next-gen consoles like the Xbox One and Sony PS4.

There are currently 474 Linux-compatible games available on the Steam platform, and there had been an expectation that Valve would announce further high-profile titles to coincide with the launch.

The delay in getting Steam Machines to market is good news for Sony and Microsoft – it gives them a year to build traction behind their gaming consoles, while some folks holding out for a Steam Machine might just cave and pick up an Xbox One or PS4 rather than wait another year to get aboard the next-gen bandwagon.