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Xi3 tries to dispel wrong assumptions about whether its Piston is Valve’s ‘Steam Box’

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 3 min

Steambox

Xi3 is in a tough spot. It has a not-so-secret deal with Valve. But Valve isn’t saying what that deal is, and everybody is assuming that Xi3 is making the fabled “Steam Box” for Valve, a console that will run Linux and play downloadable games from the Steam digital distribution service in the living room.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.