The biggest gaming announcement this week came from Valve when it revealed the six-inch Steam Machine, a new device coming in 2026 that will allow people to play PC games on their TV. Some have seen this as Valve attempting to enter the living room marketplace currently dominated by the mainstay platform-holders like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. But Valve apparently doesn't pay too much attention to existing consoles and instead came up with the idea for the Steam Machine by looking at the latest trends in PC gaming.Software engineer Pierre-Loup Griffais told IGN that when Valve was setting out to create the Steam Machine, the company was "not looking at consoles or other products in that direction. Everything we do is informed by what's happening on the PC gaming side of things."At the same time, he admitted that there ended up being "quite a bit of overlap" because the Steam Machine aims to make PC gaming "work better in the living room and that's traditionally where consoles have been.""But really I would say that most of our thinking is not informed by what's happening on the console side, and so I don't know if we have many theories as to where that might be headed," Griffais said. "But in general it seems like people seem to be recognizing that there's quite a bit of value in a more PC-like experience and the customizability and all that, and so we're happy to see more of these elements being embraced by platforms in general."Rumors have suggested that Microsoft's next-generation Xbox console could take the form of a more PC-like system. In any event, Valve hardware engineer Yazan Aldehayyat said the company considers the Steam Machine to be a PC and not a traditional gaming console."The Steam Machine is just one option in the ecosystem of gaming PCs out there. If you're already happy with your PC gaming experience, that's great. We love that," he said. "We are a PC gaming company. We're just trying to give you more options. And that's how we view it. It's just something that we think is a really great addition to a living room or a desktop, but it's just one other option that people can have available to them to play their Steam games basically."The Steam Machine, along with Valve's new Steam Frame VR device and the next Steam controller, will launch in 2026. Steam Machine pricing has not been disclosed as of yet for any of the new devices, however. On the subject of pricing for the Steam Machine, Valve said it wants the system to be "affordable," but that doesn't tell us much. One analyst, Rhys Elliott, has said the "sweet spot" would be $400.The Steam Machine runs the Linux-based SteamOS, similar to the Steam Deck, making the Steam Machine similar to the Steam Deck in a console form factor.