The Linux-based Steam Machine from Valve is not performing well on the market in terms of sales output. Seven months after its release, new statistics reveal that less than 500,000 Steam Machines have been sold.

As part of the recently rolled out update for the Steam Controller, Valve announced that it has sold more than 500,000 Steam Controller since the launch of the device in November 2015. According to Ars Technica, this figure includes controllers that are packaged with branded Steam Machines sold via Valve's hardware partners. This sales figure does not bode well for Valve's first venture into the hardware market.

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Selling half a million units might not sound like a bad start for a brand new hardware platform. However, compared to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One which sold more than a million units on their first day in the market, the Steam Machine is still far away.

Some tech analysts agree that Steam Machine's Linux operating system may have played a major role in the device's lackluster performance on the market. Windows currently dominates the PC gaming market and the lack of exclusive titles, along with the subpar support from major publishers, have all contributed to Steam Machine's flop.

Besides the unstable Linux gaming community, most gamers usually opt-in to stream their PC games rather than buy a high-end gaming rig like the Steam Machine. Additionally, some gamers would also choose to just upgrade their current gaming rig than spend money on a new machine.

However, some analysts are hopeful that the Steam Machine can regain some market momentum with the upcoming release of the Vulkan API, according to PC World. Vulkan is the open-source and cross-platform API that analysts have dubbed as the alternative to DirectX 12 which is exclusively available on the Windows platform.

Tagssteam controller, steam, Steam Machines, SteamOS, PC gaming, Gaming