Valve discontinues production of Steam Link

[AlTech]

ArsTechnica reports Valve is discontinuing production of Steam Link.

 

Valve maintains that they will continue to support the Steam Link hardware.

Quote

Valve is quietly discontinuing Steam Link, the in-home streaming box it first launched in late 2015. A low-key announcement on Valve's Steam Link news page suggests that production of new units has ceased and that Valve is currently selling off the rest of its "almost sold out" inventory in the US, after selling out completely in Europe. Valve says it will continue to offer support for existing Steam Link hardware.

Quote

The $50 Steam Link was designed for streaming games from a local gaming PC to an HDTV in the same house, a job it did pretty well provided your networking hardware was up to it. In recent months, though, Valve has shifted its focus away from dedicated streaming hardware and toward mobile apps that can provide the same feature.

 

Quote

The discontinuation of Steam Link hardware wasn't a complete surprise, given that Valve was briefly selling the playing-card-deck-sized devices for a closeout price of $2.50 earlier this year. And though Valve insists it's "still working hard" on Linux gaming and bringing Windows game compatibility to SteamOS, Valve's much ballyhooed circa-2015 hardware initiative has not made a huge impact on the marketplace.

 

I'm personally surprised that Valve hasn't enabled 4K Steam in home streaming yet. I'm not too surprised that the Steam Link is being discontinued given that it's never sold very well.

Edited November 22, 2018 by AluminiumTech
fixed error

[bleedblue]

F

[themctipers]

I bought the steam link for the hdmi, ethenet, and power brick. Don't care about the steam link itself  

[aezakmi]

the what?

[Guest]

This just reminded me that there's a SteamLink under my bed that I never even opened.

[Teddy07]

14 minutes ago, King Poet said:

This just reminded me that there's a SteamLink under my bed that I never even opened.

I don´t get why people buy stuff but then never use it at least a few times

[Thaldor]

Really not suprising when comparing where smart TVs have gone. Steam Link was a thing but now that there's enough horsepower in the TVs and they can run the Steam Link app, it's kind of the same story as with Chromecast, it has just become obsolete because TVs now have the same capabilities build in (I'm really suprised that Google released Chromecast 2).

 

Yesterday checked and even my year old Philips 55PUS6503/12 cannot only run Steam Link but also has support for PS4 controller through BT and Xbox360 wireless adapter and so support for 4 (grhm..8) Xbox360 controllers. And that's not even any kind of flagship 4K TV.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

I don´t get why people buy stuff but then never use it at least a few times

I bought it to giveaway, but then people annoyed me by not following any rules, so it ended up under the bed.

[ZacoAttaco]

I own this device, I actually bought the Steam Controller and Steam Link together. My main complaint was that it only 'worked' with Steam titles. You could get other titles from Origin or uPlay to work, but it was sketchy and not always guaranteed. When I bought it most titles I wanted to play were on Steam, but now games on PC have become more decentralized.

[Nowak]

Not really surprising. The landscape's changed since 2015 and now the functionality is built into a number of smart TVs and available as an Android app. Dedicated Steam Link hardware isn't necessary anymore.

[Gullerback]

they would have done way better as an android box, competing with the shield 

[ARikozuM]

I do like the Links I've purchased. They make connecting to the Steam server VM's much easier. 

[williamcll]

10 minutes ago, Gullerback said:

they would have done way better as an android box, competing with the shield 

wish the shield gets a hardware update.

The tegra chip they are using is starting to show their age.

[KuJoe]

This is sad to hear, the Steam Link is an absolutely amazing little box if you don't want to drag a PC into another room. If you're a parent with younger kids who you don't want playing on your gaming PC, I highly recommend picking one up before they're all gone (along with a few Steam Controllers because they're also awesome).

[ZacoAttaco]

I think the Steam Box from Alienware came out around the same time, and we know how that ended. If they had of focused more marketing on the Steam Link, it's actually a solid proposition and could have sold well, but Valve released a lot of hardware at the same time and they advertised the Steam box very heavily. I don't think it was a bad product but not enough people really knew about it and now technology has progressed past it.

[ZacoAttaco]

7 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

For me, the biggest issue is the bugginess of streaming from multi-display devices then leaving big picture mode.  Building a PC instead over the next couple of months.  So, if the thing stops getting updated too then I won't care as much.

I didn't experience too many issues with multi-monitor. Running a triple monitor display on my PC and I didn't come across too many issues. I was thinking of building a Mini-ITX system to go in the entertainment room, this would replace any need of the Steam Link. I don't know if I'll get round to it.

[Techstorm970]

2 hours ago, Nowak said:

Not really surprising. The landscape's changed since 2015 and now the functionality is built into a number of smart TVs and available as an Android app. Dedicated Steam Link hardware isn't necessary anymore.

This, this, THIS!!!  If the Steam Link were released earlier in the decade, it would've been a lot more successful.  Even back in 2015, smart TVs were becoming a thing; basically, Steam Link was released, had its however many moments of fame, and then was immediately shoved off a cliff by smart TV technologies.

[ZacoAttaco]

8 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

From me, the bugs only occur when I leave big picture mode.  Like the cursor randomly vanishing.  Or, Chrome going to another monitor for no reason.  I've been slowly gathering parts.  Getting a Taichi X470 next month, a 2200G this weekend.  8GBs of 3200mhz at the end of next month most likely.  Trading some stuff for a G2.  Already got a focus G and a 1060 6GB SSC for it.  Planning on picking up a P300 1-2TB+an SSD by January.  I've also already got windows for it, a Gigabyte KB with cherry reds, and a death adder too.  Before you ask about the 2200G!  I'm just using it as a placeholder CPU cuz I really want a 7nm Ryzen 7 for it even if I have a 1950x.  XD   

I don't think there's anything wrong with the 2200G but the upcoming 7nm Ryzen line is worth waiting for. Looks like you have a solid build coming together.

[Mr.Dingle]

Well , too bad .

 

Im satisfied with mine , Dirt rally , rocket league or the type is superb fun to play on a big TV far away from any possible PC related heat or noise .

 

Maybe if it had a bit better hardware inside , along with a gigabit port , to allow 2/4K60 ... a dedicated headphone / mic jack would be useful too.

[DeScruff]

1 hour ago, valdyrgramr said:

For me, the biggest issue is the bugginess of streaming from multi-display devices then leaving big picture mode.

Yeah that was always my problem with it as well. Personally I don't like Big Picture Mode... like at all. If you exit it, its fairly obvious Valve doesn't intend this to be used as a general remote desktop client since its missing a couple of features. Even though it be absolutely perfect for that. (Small, low power, good latency on wired connections, cheap, a program you probably already have running in the background.)
Its a shame since BPM can act really wonky with non-steam games, or even older games later added to Steam (I always have issues with anything that has a config menu on startup)

That and last time I used it... I remember there was no way to switch which monitor you were viewing. Which was fairly annoying. Ive done multi display Teamviewer before and while its sorta awkward, At least I can drag programs back to display1

[Lord Cluttermonkey]

The link only had 1080p support, it makes sense to discontinue outdated tech. Unfortunately I don't think they'll be doing a 4k link any time soon

[DeScruff]

6 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

There is one way to swap between monitors when exiting BPM.  Watch a youtube video in chrome in full screen then move the mouse in the direction of the other monitor.  IDK why that works, but it works for me every time. 

That is weird! But then again Im fairly sure Youtube is doing weird things in order to work. Like I don't know why but I can never watch a video on Youtube while playing a game without the game locking to 30fps. Doesn't matter how old the game is, how powerful my rig is, doesn't matter the video on youtube. 30fps.

[GOTSpectrum]

7 hours ago, OnyxArmos said:

I remember when they were selling the Steam Link for like £2 or something

£2.60... I bought 5

[suicidalfranco]

glad i got mine when it was 5€

best purchases i've made this year. Had forgotten how great it is to play on a big screen after i stopped playing on the PS3

[Coaxialgamer]

Got mine for 5$ last christmas . They're very well built tbh. too bad i don't use it much though