John Carmack, Co-founder of iD Software, Doubts Success of Valve's Steam Machines

John Carmarck, Co-founder of iD Software, Doubts Success of Valve's Steam Machines

John Carmack, co-founder of iD software and CTO of Oculus VR, has raised doubts about the success of Valve's upcoming Steam Machines. He expressed his concerns on the viability of the Linux-based gaming console, running on Steam OS.

He was reported to have said the success of Valve's Steam Machines "appear dicey", and Valve's strategy to make the push from the Linux side of things may be ill-timed. However, he was also quick to admit his lack of foresight about the success of Valve's Steam digital distribution platform for game titles. He added he would be quick to write off Steam Machines, had they been from another company; however, given the clout of Valve, their Steam Machines may be the game changers.

Details of the prototype Steam Machine have been made known early this month but it already faces stiff competition from the impending launches of two established gaming consoles; the Sony Playstation 4 and the Microsoft XBox One. Valve has attempted to differentiate its offerings from those gaming consoles by enabling owners of Steam Machines to tinker with their machines. At the same time, the source code of Steam OS will be made available.

(Source: The Verge)