@40ec4379 Sure, Steam Machines was an incremental step towards the Steam Deck and was a key learning event. 

But I don’t think it was intended as an experiment. Valve actually wanted the initiative to be a success. Many people wanted it to be a success. 

The problem was that even though the library of Linux games was bigger than Xbox One or PS4, it was still dwarfed by what was available on Windows.

It also didn’t help that most Steam Machines were not only expensive, they were huge. 

Anyway, I think Valve found the killer idea: make a handheld, dock it to a TV if you want.