Valve is slowly stepping into the console business, but the company is not putting much focus on competing devices from Microsoft or Sony, but from Apple who the company sees as its biggest threat.
CEO of Valve, Gabe Newell, is clearly afraid of what Apple might bring to the table if it moves into the living room quickly before the PC industry gets its act together. He's also keen on Valve doing mobile in the right way before Apple jumps in and take control of the living room space for itself.
"The threat right now is that Apple has gained a huge amount of market share, and has a relatively obvious pathway towards entering the living room with their platform," Newell told students of the University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs, according to Polygon. "I think that there's a scenario where we see sort of a dumbed down living room platform emerging - I think Apple rolls the console guys really easily. The question is can we make enough progress in the PC space to establish ourselves there, and also figure out better ways of addressing mobile before Apple takes over the living room?"
We've been hearing rumors and speculation of Apple making waves to compete with the console guys, however, that is yet to materialize. Still, it is clear the next logical step for Apple is to bring its iOS gaming platform to the living room, and don't think for a second that competing companies won't feel the pinch. The iOS gaming platform is not for the hardcore gamer, but for the casual. However, remember this, the casual market holds more players than the hardcore and it's the reason why the Nintendo Wii is nearing 100 million units sold.
The fact of the matter is this - if Nintendo brings its platform to the television, the company would not need the hardcore market to disrupt the market. So, don't be too surprised to see developers focusing heavily on casual games when all next generation consoles are on the playing field as the market is too rich to be left alone.
As for Valve, majority of Steam gamers will still play their games on Windows. The Steam Box won't make it far, and it won't require Apple entering the console arena for that to happen.
