Remember Steam Machines? EmuDeck Founder Returns to Valve’s TV Console Idea

Valve once dreamed of creating Linux-based gaming consoles called Steam Machines. They failed miserably — but the dream eventually became a reality as the portable Steam Deck. Now, a particularly noteworthy Steam Deck enthusiast is resurrecting the idea of ​​a console-sized Steam Box, with his own retro-gaming twist.

Rodrigo Sedano is the founder of EmuDeck, a program beloved by the Steam Deck community. It automatically installs, configures, and tweaks emulators for Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and other retro consoles so they run perfectly on Valve’s portable device.

Now, it wants to make it even easier. It’s getting ready to sell you a PC gaming console with the entire Steam + EmuDeck experience pre-installed, plus a wireless controller, all ready to go.

He’s calling them EmuDeck Machines, and he’s currently raising money for the idea on Indiegogo. Prices start at around $400, and he has a wildly ambitious promise that they’ll be available in December of this year—just four months away.

They’ll house either a (weak) Intel N97 or (more powerful) AMD 8600G processor in a Sega Dreamcast-inspired chassis, with four USB ports on the front for additional wired controllers or peripherals. By overclocking the AMD 8600G’s integrated Radeon 760M graphics, it claims it can get performance that looks to be inferior to Steam Deck, from a more expensive $700 model:

There are many reasons to wait before putting money into a crowdfunding campaign. While I love EmuDeck, and he seems to have a different background in software design, web design, and management, he admits that Edge that it has never released a similar hardware product on the market before.

He says his partners in the US and EU are telling him that it should only take a month to get FCC and CE certifications. His current prototype is just a Mini-ITX board in a wooden box while he waits for his potential case partners in Spain to deliver the Dreamcast-shaped console case he’s dreaming of. He plans to build the computers himself, as a sort of family business.

But I think it’s at least reliable because he says he doesn’t necessarily expect to sell more than 100 units as a side project — and because he says these computers will use off-the-shelf parts. It’s a standard Mini-ITX desktop motherboard and layout in an 8.66 x 8.66 x 2.55-inch case. (He tells me they’ll have an external 155W power supply.)

Sedano says he’s been building computers since he was 14, and he’s also been doing it as a hobby, but in some ways he’s starting to take it seriously. EmuDeck is now a registered limited liability company in Spain (we checked!) and says he’s locked down a few suppliers to make sure he has the components. He says he’ll offer hardware support and a warranty.

It may not need Valve’s support to make it happen either; the preloaded operating system is Bazzite, a promising fork of SteamOS’s interface with a different base operating system (Fedora). Right now, I’ve loaded it onto a Lenovo Legion Go and ROG Ally X and I’m impressed with how well it works. Bazzite founder Kyle Gospodnetich told me that his team has given EmuDeck its blessing, although Bazzite isn’t currently helping EmuDeck improve the software.

It’s a bit surprising that we haven’t seen many Steam Boxes like this before, and Bazzite says he’s not aware of any more in the works. Perhaps other companies were waiting for Valve? The maker of Steam Deck told us in late 2022 that he’s excited to see other manufacturers produce tiny SteamOS computers — once Valve releases a generic SteamOS 3 image for those manufacturers to use.

This month, there have been signs that Valve is getting closer to realizing that goal.

If you prefer tinkering instead of looking for a ready-made console gaming experience, you can of course build your own Bazzite box with EmuDeck. Or add an HDMI dock or hub for your portable device. Or you can even do what YouTuber ETA Prime did and turn an old Steam Deck into a mini PC.