PlayStation Veteran Shuhei Yoshida Reviews Steam Machine: 'Feels Like a Return to the PS4 Era'

Shuhei Yoshida, a former PlayStation executive with a 31-year tenure at Sony who was involved in the launch of the original PlayStation and served as President of SIE Worldwide Studios from 2008 to 2019, recently shared his initial impressions of the new Steam Machine. After testing the device, he concluded that based on its current performance and pricing, it's "hard to recommend to the average user."

Upon receiving the Steam Machine, Yoshida took to X to share his thoughts, expressing dissatisfaction with its performance. "The 3D performance is... just average. The system recommends a default resolution of 1080p. Am I back in the PS4 era?" he remarked. He was also perplexed by the lengthy loading times for certain games, wondering, "What is it even doing?"

Yoshida also found issues with the Steam Controller, describing the joysticks as feeling somewhat loose. While acknowledging the utility of the trackpads, he found them overly sensitive and difficult to use effectively. However, Yoshida did find several aspects of the Steam Machine to praise.

He commended the simple and user-friendly system interface, calling the ability to power on the device by simply pressing the Steam button on the controller a "killer feature." Other positive points included the practical swappable faceplates and the device's compact, quiet operation, which left a good impression on him.

Ultimately, Yoshida's strongest criticism was reserved for the Steam Machine's price. "Unless you're getting it for research purposes, it's very hard to recommend to others," he concluded, deeming the pricing to be unfriendly to consumers.

Last month, Valve opened waitlist registrations for the Steam Machine, a compact device designed for playing PC games in the living room on a TV. The 500GB model is priced at $1,049, while the 2TB version costs $1,349. Valve has acknowledged that the price is "significantly higher" than initially envisioned, attributing it to the actual component procurement costs locked in over the past six months.

Initially, Valve marketed the Steam Machine as capable of achieving a 4K, 60 FPS gaming experience with the help of FSR. However, after early reports questioned its ability to consistently hit this target in demanding games, the company revised its marketing language to state the device could achieve "up to 4K gaming" with FSR 4.1.