Next week we may finally hear some concrete news about the long rumored, but often discussed Linux-based Steam Box, Valve co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell stated during a keynote address at LinuxCon.
LinuxCon is an event dedicated – as the name suggests – to the celebration of all things Linux. During his keynote, Newell reiterated his support of the open-source operating system, and praised its place in gaming. Steam recently adopted Linux, and began releasing games that support it. “It feels a little bit funny coming here and telling you guys that Linux and open source are the future of gaming,” Newell told the crowd. “It’s sort of like going to Rome and teaching Catholicism to the Pope.”
For months now, if not years, there have been rumors of Valve releasing its own gaming machine, which has been dubbed the Steam Box. Despite there being a near total absence of facts other than Valve having at times considered making it, it has generally been assumed that the machine would run Linux – which makes sense for a company that is offering a device with a specific service rather than a traditional computer, both in terms of cost and function.
Valve – as it tends to do – has remained quiet on the hardware. That may change next week though, as Newell teased.
“Next week we’re going to be rolling out more information about how we get there and what are the hardware opportunities we see for bringing Linux into the living room,” Newell said.
That doesn’t guarantee that the news will specifically relate to the Steam Box, but it fits all the facts. We reached out to Valve for comment, but did not hear back at the time of this article’s publication.
