• artyom@piefed.social
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    11 hours ago

    This is exactly why they SHOULDN’T have named it Steam Machine. The Steam Deck was released and no one talked about Steam Machines. Call it Steam Machine and suddenly everyone is reminded of the colossal flop all those years ago.

    • Silverchase@sh.itjust.works
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      11 hours ago

      Really, how many people cared about or even remember the original? The original program was a flop but that hasn’t tainted the name.

        • Silverchase@sh.itjust.works
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          7 hours ago

          Same. I don’t have any immediate need for any of the newly announced hardware products, but I’m hopeful they succeed because they indirectly benefit me as a Linux gamer.

      • artyom@piefed.social
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        9 hours ago

        how many people cared about or even remember the original

        The people who wrote this article do. And now so does everyone that came across it.

    • ladicius@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      There’s so few people that remember… Nobody cares.

      And Steam Machine is going really hard as a brand and as a device name, really. I bet there’s a lot of salivating at this level of brand recognition in a lot of marketing departments.

    • Annoyed_🦀 @lemmy.zip
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      9 hours ago

      Does it matter though? You can put it as a failure that got so bad Valve eventually cancel it, or you can put it as a product that got good from countless iteration. Its kinda like glass half empty half full kind of situation which eventually doesn’t really matter.

        • Annoyed_🦀 @lemmy.zip
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          7 hours ago

          It is. “From failed product to global success” will also drum up a positive vibe about this particular hardware. What i meant by it is it doesn’t really matter if the previous iteration is a failure, what people really care and what’s important is the current iteration and what Valve learn from their past mistake, and the marketing team of Valve know exactly that. It’s marketing after all, turning negative vibe to positive one is part of the marketing strategy.

        • ampersandrew@lemmy.world
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          9 hours ago

          Going from YouTube comments on gaming channels that don’t focus on PC gaming or Linux, I don’t think many people remember the first Steam Machines from 10 years ago.

        • shishka_b0b@lemmy.zip
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          7 hours ago

          The goal of marketing is to get as many people as possible to be aware that a company’s product exists. These articles are doing just that, for free.

          Initial sales will probably take a hit bc of the negative articles. I don’t think they’re being written bc valve decided to stick with the same name though. The articles are probably being written bc negative headlines get clicks.

          If the new steam machine proves to be a solid product this time around then gamers are going to buy it. If it’s such a solid product that it manages to turn a product line that was once associated with failure and negativity into a product line that’s associated with success and positivity then I really can’t think of anything better the new steam machine could do for valve’s brand. The (hypothetical) articles comparing the huge (hypothetical) success of the new steam machine to the dramatic failure of the past will also be a bit easier to write a headline for. More free marketing.