Featured Image Credit: Valve
Topics: Steam, Steam Machine, PlayStation, PlayStation 5
Valve’s Steam Machine has the opportunity to do something PlayStation has been neglecting for years.
As much as I love my PlayStation 5 I’ve never been a big fan of the console UI, and that goes for every PlayStation not just the semi-latest model.
One specific area of improvement is something fans have been begging for, customisable console themes.
Now, to give credit where it’s due, PlayStation has made some progress on this.
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The Welcome Hub of your PS5 console can be customised to have a different background. Some of these themes are from PlayStation-exclusive games and some are seasonal.
They’re also only for that specific part of the PS5 dashboard, but I guess it’s better than nothing right?
For such a simple change though, it goes a long way in the eyes of gamers.
It makes your console feel like your own if you have your own custom theme on it. I’ve been rocking a Sonic Adventure 2 background on my Xbox Series X since I got the console.
This is where the Steam Machine could be a success, as Valve’s upcoming PC/console hybrid is clearly trying to cater to the Xbox/PlayStation crowd.
As such a bit of personalisation would do wonders as while I don’t think Steam’s UI is that bad I’d imagine a more toned-down or simplified version will be utilised for the Steam Machine.
Valve have already shown what they can do on this front as well. While the Steam Deck doesn’t have personalised backgrounds it does have personalised start-up screens.
There’s plenty built-in to the handheld itself, for example the one I went for was Ranni from Elden Ring, but users can get creative and upload their own.
You can find some great examples online and some are genuinely hilarious.
We don’t know if the Steam Machine will support this feature but it would be pretty cool, a bit of a no-brainer too considering how popular it was on the Steam Deck.
The point is gamers want the console they spent an arm and a leg on to feel unique. They want it to feel like their Steam Machine or their PlayStation, not just defined by what games they have for it.
It’s why it pains me to see Nintendo, which markets itself as the gaming company for anyone and everyone, still using its static black and white backgrounds for the Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch 2.
There’s no sauce there.
While PlayStation does give you some customisation nowadays it still feels like an afterthought, and while it won’t make-or-break a console’s success it’s still really nice to have.
Valve has always positioned itself as being for the gamers, so I’m hoping the Steam Machine will do what other companies like PlayStation and Nintendo clearly don’t want to.