Xbox's Phil Spencer praises new Steam Machine console: 'It's an open platform built on choice'

Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer praises Valve's new Steam Machine hybrid console-PC, and what he has to say lends even more credence to a next-gen Xbox PC.

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Today, Valve announced its new-and-improved Steam Machine, a hybrid device that packs in the power and utility of a PC with the plug-and-play convenience of a console. The Steam Machine runs SteamOS, plays Steam games at up to 4K 60FPS with FSR enabled, and is compatible with software and accessories just like a normal PC.

If you've been paying attention to the recent Xbox rumors, this might sound familiar. Microsoft is reportedly planning on doing something similar with the next-gen Xbox, merging the console and PC environments together using Windows 11. It just sounds like Valve beat Microsoft to the punch with the Steam Machine--Xbox has been following in Valve's wake for a while, first with its PC game sales ambitions, then with the Xbox Ally handhelds and now the Steam Machine hybrid PC-console.

• Read more: Next-gen Xbox will be a first-party device designed by Microsoft, similar to other consoles
• Read more: Next-gen Xbox hardware will have shared game libraries and storefronts, Microsoft reiterates
• Read more: Steam data shows Microsoft has time to fend off the looming threat of SteamOS

Uncoincidentally, Xbox's chief executive officer Phil Spencer has commented on Valve's Steam Machine in a very interesting way. He emphasized that the Steam Machine is focused on choice and called it an open platform--a good way to describe a device that can launch either Windows or the Xbox OS and supports multiple digital storefronts.

Here's what Spencer said on Twitter:

"Gaming moves forward when players and developers have more ways to play and create, especially across open platforms.

"Expanding access across PC, console, and handheld devices reflects a future built on choice, core values that have guided Xbox's vision from the start.

"As one of the largest publishers on Steam, we welcome new options for players to access games everywhere. Congrats on today's announce."

Microsoft has yet to officially announce that its new Xbox is a PC, but company CEO Satya Nadella did confirm that Xbox will "do innovative work on the system side, on the console and on the PC."