Steam Machine could be partly to blame for PlayStation's reported plans to step back from PC, Bluepoint dev suggests, and it'd be ironic if "Valve ultimately ended up winning the console war"

Peter Dalton, the head of technology at Bluepoint Games – which Sony last month announced the closure of – reckons the rise of the Steam Machine could be the reason for PlayStation reportedly backing away from PC games.

In February, it was reported that Sony is shutting down Demon's Souls remake developer Bluepoint Games this month after canceling its God of War multiplayer project, and naturally, people weren't happy over what is perceived as a massive fumble by the PlayStation owner. And then, last week, the company decided to keep on winning the hearts and minds of many with more weird decisions after it was also reported that Sony is stopping PC ports of its single-player titles (something one former PlayStation boss said was like "printing money" for the company).

Many – myself included – believe it was due to the assumption that the next Xbox is supposedly going to be a PC-hybrid console, with the optics of 'you can play Uncharted on Xbox' being a bit strange. Xbox since announced Project Helix, adding more weight to those rumors, but a Bluepoint dev reckons it may not be due to that.

Dalton took to Twitter (spotted by FRVR), saying, "Some people frame this as a response to Xbox, but I'm not convinced that's the real driver." The dev explains that "a more interesting possibility is the rise of a Steam-based console ecosystem," noting that consoles are primarily used as a cheaper, simpler alternative to PCs. He adds: "If Valve releases a new Steam console that provides a console-like experience while still giving players access to the entire PC game library, that could become a very compelling option."

He continues, "In that scenario, if Sony were releasing all of its games day-and-date on PC, the Steam console could effectively offer the best of all worlds: console simplicity with the full breadth of PC gaming."

Concluding, he says: "It would be quite ironic if, after decades of traditional console competition, Valve ultimately ended up winning the console war." We'll just have to wait and see how popular the Steam Machine is when it launches this year.

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