Valve has recently been questioned again over the performance promotion of the Steam Machine. This small console has not only been criticized for its performance claims, but has also been criticized for "unkind pricing" after the pre-sale price was officially announced. Under the pressure of public opinion, Valve has made low-key modifications to the official product page, changing the original claim that "with FSR can achieve 4K 60 FPS gaming experience" to "with FSR 4.1, up to 4K gaming support". On the one hand, it has deleted the clear commitment to frame rate, and on the other hand, it has used the vague expression "highest support" to weaken the performance guarantee.
Judging from third-party reviews, Steam Machine has difficulty reaching 60 frames stably in some AAA games, even at 1080p resolution, highest or ultra-high image quality, let alone running natively at 4K resolution. According to the review process, when users enable the performance mode of FSR 4, the picture is usually rendered at 1080p and then upsampled to 4K output, which means that the so-called "4K gaming experience" is essentially a 4K display that relies on super-resolution technology, rather than true 4K native rendering. Against this background, Valve's adjustment of the copywriting is widely interpreted as an attempt to reduce the risk of exaggerated publicity and avoid potential legal disputes due to substandard performance.
Some players compared this "4K/60 frames" promotion to Sony's "8K" selling point around the PS5 back then, believing that this type of marketing rhetoric has the problem of confusing technical capabilities with actual gaming experience. The current modification time is also quite subtle: there are signs that Valve made the above-mentioned copywriting adjustment around June 25, which happened to be the date when the Steam Machine pre-order reservation channel was closed. The two times coincided, triggering speculation about Valve’s internal judgment and changes in market strategy. However, Valve has not yet released a separate statement on this, and has only "quietly" updated the wording on the product page.
Although the official caliber has been tightened, the controversy surrounding the Steam Machine has not stopped. Some players believe that as long as it is mainly aimed at 1080p or 1440p resolution, and then uses super-resolution technologies such as FSR to output to 4K TVs, such a positioning will still have some appeal in the mid-to-high-end gaming experience. Some people also pointed out that Valve should highlight the portability and "living room integration" characteristics of this small console in its marketing, instead of overemphasizing "4K gaming", an indicator that has extremely high hardware requirements and is easily magnified and scrutinized. With the pre-order window closed and promotional rhetoric dialed back, the subsequent market performance of Steam Machine and the gap between it and players’ expectations remains to be seen.
